A Punjab LGBTQ influencer and makeup artist, Madhu Sudan, known as Mad Sandhu, was shot dead by unidentified bike-borne assailants in Amritsar on Saturday.
The incident took place at Loharka Road at around 6 pm on Saturday.
Sandhu, the son of a retired Punjab police inspector, was waiting outside a car wash centre for his vehicle.
Two men on a bike then opened fire at him before fleeing the spot.
According to an eyewitness, they fired about two to three rounds. A video purported to be taken during the incident shows the victim lying in a pool of blood.
He was rushed to a private hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
Police registered an FIR based on a statement from the family. The motive for the attack is yet to be ascertained, according to one police officer.
DCP Investigation, Amritsar Commissionerate, Prabhjot Singh Virk said, “…We have leads and will solve the case soon. We have recorded the family’s statement”.
Sandhu had over 2 lakh followers on Instagram and was the founder of Mane Lane Unisex Salon in Amritsar.
He operated beauty academies offering courses from self-makeup to professional bridal artistry.
When he faced homophobic trolling, he would hit back, saying, “God had made me the way I am.” He also appeared in the Punjabi film Oye Bhole Oye.
In an audio-video clip that went viral a few months ago, Sandhu was seen confronting a man named Nihang Singh. The latter objected to the influence of social media presence and older video reels and warned him to refrain from making content deemed harmful to Punjabi culture and youth.
Sandhu had issued a public clarification stating that he had changed his content style and stopped repeating past mistakes. He said that older clips were being recirculated to intentionally manufacture controversy.
Delhi BJP leader and minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said, "The law and order situation in Punjab is in the hands of the mafia. In Punjab, you receive only one piece of information every day. Otherwise, the police do not even register an FIR."
BJP MP Tarun Chugh called the daylight murder "extremely tragic and heart-wrenching".
"This incident has once again exposed the shortcomings of the AAP government and proven that Punjab has been handed over to criminals and mafias, where the youth of Punjab are not safe," he said
"If they are drug dealers, they are going around killing people. If they are mafia members, they are killing people. If there are gangsters, they are killing people. Social media influencer Mad Sandhu was shot dead. During the tenure of the Aam Aadmi Party, gangs involved in extortion, the mafia and the drug mafia are operating in Punjab," he added.
Congress leader Raj Kumar Verka also criticised the AAP government and accused it of sleeping while “law and order had completely collapsed".
“There is an atmosphere of fear in Punjab. People are living under its shadow. Meanwhile, Bhagwant Mann's government puts up massive hoardings proclaiming a magnificent government and an honest government. In reality, this is a dishonest government. Yet, it is astonishing that neither Arvind Kejriwal nor Bhagwant Mann said a word about this," Verka said.
