For Parvinder Singh, popularly known as Jhota — the bull — the fight against drugs in Punjab’s Mansa was deeply personal. A former sportsperson who had himself struggled with substance abuse, he turned his life around to become a vocal campaigner against the illegal sale of addictive drugs, confronting chemists and medical store owners and alleged drug peddlers, mostly while going live on social social media.On Tuesday, the 42-year-old’s campaign came to a tragic end in a busy market in Mansa. Jhota was shot dead during a confrontation at a pharmacy by its owner, Ashwani Kumar, the very man he had confronted over alleged illegal drug sales in 2023. Jhota was livestreaming the incident from his phone when he was shot, police said.For his friend Inderjeet Singh Munashi, who had watched Jhota’s transformation from a man battling addiction into an outspoken activist, the killing was the loss of someone who had come to see the fight against drugs as his life’s mission.Jhota grew up in a supportive family. His father, Bhim Singh, is an ex-serviceman having retired from the Army, while the family sustained itself through farming and dairy trade on six to seven acres of land. A cricket and boxing player in his younger days, Jhota took to substance abuse during his college years in Jalandhar.By mid-2023, however, he had become one of the most recognisable faces of the anti-drug campaign in Mansa and surrounding districts, using social media livestreams to confront medical store owners and other alleged drug dealers whom he accused of illegally selling prohibited pharmaceutical substances or heroin to young people.Inderjeet said Jhota’s disillusionment with the political establishment had helped propel him into activism. Family members of Parminder Singh Jhotha, an anti-drug activist who was reportedly shot by a medical store owner, gather outside the hospital where he was taken after sustaining bullet injuries and later succumbed to them, in Mansa on Tuesday. (ANI Video Grab)“He campaigned for Vijay Singla, who is now an Aam Aadmi Party MLA. We all did in hope of change for a better future. However, deep disillusionment followed once the government took charge. It forced Jhota to become an activist. He was brave. He would directly confront those who sell drugs in Mansa city,” Inderjeet said.Story continues below this adJhota gradually built a network of supporters across Mansa. Groups of young men would frequently gather at his home, where the campaign against drugs became a common cause. His confrontational style, including livestreamed sting operations, earned him a substantial online following and support from sections of the public, farmer organisations and religious figures, including Giani Harpreet Singh, the then Jathedar of Takht Sri Damdama Sahib.But his methods also brought him into repeated conflict with the police, who accused him of vigilantism, assault and taking the law into his own hands. The clash came to a head around July 12, 2023, when Jhota and his supporters allegedly raided a medical store, assaulted owner Ashwani Kumar and paraded him through the market with a garland of footwear around his neck before handing him over to the police.Also Read | How Jhota’s killing threatens to derail AAP government’s anti-drug driveThe incident led to criminal cases against Jhota, including allegations of rioting, assault and wrongful confinement, and he was arrested.Talking to The Indian Express at the time, the then ADGP SPS Parmar had defended the arrest, saying that “taking the law into one’s hands is unacceptable”.Story continues below this adYet, some of the cases against Jhota did not stand. In June 2023, the police had to withdraw an attempted murder charge after CCTV footage contradicted their allegations. On September 11, 2023, the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Mansa discharged him in an extortion case.“In the following years, Jhota was booked for protesting in many cases. His father was also booked in one such case. The police were not happy with Jhota, and he was harassed using the law,” Inderjeet alleged.A few months ago, Jhota’s name had again come into the political spotlight when Tarsem Singh, father of Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh, visited his home, triggering speculation that he might join Akali Dal Waris Punjab De. No decision had been taken, though Jhota admired Amritpal Singh for his stand against drugs.For all the controversy surrounding his methods, those close to Jhota say his campaign was rooted in a desire to protect young people from addiction — a battle he knew first-hand and something that he never sought to hide.Story continues below this adThat aspiration extended to his own family. Jhota is survived by his parents, wife and two sons. He took a personal interest in his children’s athletic training, regularly driving them to Central Park in Mansa, hoping they would pursue sports and build a different future.“…it was his heart’s desire that my son should play and win championships in boxing,” Inderjeet said.At the hospital after his son’s killing, Bhim Singh blamed the AAP government, alleging that drugs continued to be sold openly in Punjab and that his son had been killed for fighting the menace.“This is the failure of the Punjab government. The system has collapsed. My son had saved thousands of lives. He was killed by drug traffickers. His two innocent children have been orphaned. We demand that the Government of India dismiss the Punjab government,” he said.