India, Oct. 21 -- Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday pressed Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to hand over two more investigations into deaths linked to anti-drug activism to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), declaring that the State Government "will not be able to handle it." The appeal came hours after Mann's Government transferred the murder probe of anti-drug activist Parminder Singh Jhota to the CBI, following sustained family demands and protests.

Shah made the remarks at a press conference in Ludhiana after a day-long tour during which he met the families of three men whose deaths have been tied by relatives and locals to opposition against the drug trade. He visited the family of Bikramjit Singh in Marhi Pannwan...