Three years after a jewellery businessman was shot dead in broad daylight in a crowded Punjab market, Congress leader Sachin Pilot travelled to Moga on Saturday, October 17, to sit with the family of the late Paraminder Singh 'Vicky' — and to make a public promise: justice, and accountability for those responsible.

A trader killed in broad daylight in Moga's busy market

In June 2023, Paraminder Singh 'Vicky', a jewellery trader, was killed during a brazen armed robbery in a crowded Moga market — in full daylight, with people around. His death sent a chill through Punjab's business community: if a merchant could be gunned down in a busy bazaar in the middle of the day, who was safe?

Pilot, posting in Hindi from the site of his visit, put it plainly: 'जब दिनदहाड़े भीड़भाड़ वाले बाजारों में कारोबारियों की सुरक्षा सुनिश्चित नहीं हो पाती' — 'When the safety of traders in busy markets cannot be ensured in broad daylight, it is natural for ordinary people and businessmen to feel fear and insecurity.' He added that while the family's grief could never be repaid, every effort would be made to ensure swift justice and strict punishment for the guilty.

Congress's pattern of victim-family outreach in Punjab

The visit fits a broader pattern the party has practised across Punjab — Congress leaders meeting families of daylight robbery and murder victims to spotlight perceived failures in policing and trader safety. The tactic is deliberate: it grounds the critique in a specific name, a specific market, a specific June afternoon, rather than abstract law-and-order rhetoric.

Pilot tagged a wide slate of senior Congress figures in his post — including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, and several Punjab Congress leaders — signalling that the case is being elevated within the party's internal communication, not treated as a one-off local condolence call.

What the family is still waiting for

The current status of the police investigation and any trial proceedings in the case remain unconfirmed. What is confirmed: more than three years on, the family of Paraminder Singh 'Vicky' is still waiting for a verdict. Pilot's pledge — 'शीघ्र न्याय मिले और दोषियों को सख्त सजा मिले' ('swift justice and strict punishment for the guilty') — is now on the record, tagged to some of the most powerful names in the opposition.

For Punjab's trader community, the Moga case has become a reference point in every conversation about market security. A promise made publicly, to a grieving family, with the party's top leadership copied in, is one that will be hard to quietly forget.