Mansa: Seven years after her daughter Neha Shoree, a drug inspector, was shot dead by a chemist, Arun Shoree stepped foot in Mansa on Sunday to console the parents of slain anti-drug activist Parminder Singh Jhota, seeing in them the pain she had suffered at the time.She saw parallels in the two killings — both had raised concerns linked to drugs and families of both sought CBI probes as they were dissatisfied with state police investigations. The fathers of both victims are ex-Servicemen.Neha Shoree, 36, zonal drugs licensing authority with the food and drug administration, was shot dead in her office in Kharar on March 29, 2019, by chemist Balwinder Singh, who later shot himself dead. Police ruled out a wider conspiracy and filed a closure report in 2020.A court in Kharar accepted the report after Neha’s colleague Gurmeet Singh told it he had no objection. Her family rejected the police investigation and approached the Punjab and Haryana high court, where the matter remains pending.“It is unfortunate that we have lost two promising young people to the drug mafia. We must fight till the end to ensure no such promising person has to lay down his or her life to the mafia. We have been grieving for over seven years, and now our grief has increased manifold with the killing of Parminder Singh Jhota,” Arun Shoree said while addressing protesters in Mansa on Sunday.She said her family had long sought a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), as it was dissatisfied with the state police investigation. “Now I urge the Union home minister to get the investigation into the killing of Parminder Singh Jhota transferred to the CBI,” she said.Her husband, Capt Kailash Kumar Shoree (retd), is a 1971 war veteran.Arun urged protesters to protect young people, saying the drug menace was claiming valuable lives and that eliminating drugs from Punjab was crucial to saving them.A committee that has been formed to seek justice in Jhota’s killing has announced that it would distribute or paste lahnat patars (shame letters) at the residences and offices of AAP ministers and MLAs on Monday. It asked them to clarify whether they stood with Jhota’s bereaved family and Punjab’s drug-affected people or with drug peddlers and their alleged patrons.The morcha reiterated its demands for the resignation of the chief minister and DGP, besides action against those allegedly behind the killing.Looking forward to Shah’s visit: Jhota’s fatherJhota’s father, Bhim Singh, said the family was looking forward to Union home minister Amit Shah’s expected visit on Oct 20. He said he had already written to the Punjab govt about his son’s killing and the suicide of Gulzar Singh of Toor Banzara village. “If he visits us, the family would seek a CBI probe and urge him to ensure justice,” he added. Protesters Inderjit Singh and Mohinder Singh said reports of Shah’s expected visit on Dussehra had lifted their spirits and would strengthen their fight for justice and a CBI probe.
