less than a week after six persons were killed while 24 others injured, Jalandhar-based senior journalist died in a road accident near Mukerian in Hoshiarpur district on Sunday.
Suspecting foul play in Malhotra’s death, Punjab Congress has appealed to Punjab and High Court to take suo motu notice and order a probe by the CBI into the road mishap that led to his tragic death. Forty-one-year-old Jasdeep Singh Malhotra was on his way to Pathankot from Jalandhar to do a news story on illegal mining. He was travelling with Pathankot SSP SK Kalia in the latter’s official Innova. Of the five occupants of the vehicle, Kalia and another person were critically injured, while two others sustained minor injuries. SSP Kalia has been admitted to Pathankot civil hospital, and his condition is said to be very serious.
The who’s who of Punjab has mourned the shocking demise of the senior journalist. Expressing grief over Malhotra’s tragic and untimely demise, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal described him as a ‘fearless and upright journalist’ who discharged his duties with utmost dedication, sincerity and professional commitment to pursue the ultimate goal of freedom of the press in true spirit.
Dy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, Information and Public Relations Minister Bikram Singh Majithia, Punjab BJP president Kamal Sharma, Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa, former CM Capt Amarinder Singh also mourned the death. Seeking CBI inquiry into the death of journalist who exposed sand mafia, Bajwa said Malhotra had exposed the nefarious activities of ‘sand mafia’ operating in Pathankot area where ‘gunda tax’ of Rs 20 lakh per day is collected by henchmen of mafia. “I have serious doubts that Malhotra is killed as part of conspiracy by sand mafia,” said Bajwa.
Bajwa added, “Malhotra was working for the cause of State in exposing sand mafia. It is expected that Malhotra had gathered more information on the activities of sand mafia shielded by the ruling party. Since the HC was monitoring the sand mining cases, I request the Chief Justice to order CBI probe into the circumstances that led to death of Malhotra.”