LGBTQ+ influencer and make-up artist Mad Sandhu was shot dead in Amritsar on Saturday evening, 3rd October, after two unidentified men on a motorcycle opened fire at him on Loharka Road. Sandhu had gone to collect his car, which he had given for washing, when the attackers approached him and fired several rounds. He suffered multiple bullet injuries and died while being taken to a private hospital. The murder occurred months after Nihang extremists had warned him about some of his social media content.
Amritsar Commissioner of Police Harmanbir Singh Gill said Sandhu, whose real name was Madhusudan, was the son of a retired Punjab Police sub-inspector. Police have formed teams to identify and trace the attackers and are examining CCTV footage from the area. Two empty bullet shells were also recovered from the spot.
#WATCH | Amritsar, Punjab | Visuals from the spot where social media influencer, Mad Sandhu, was shot dead by unidentified assailants https://t.co/2JkC4mcPYS
— ANI (@ANI) October 3, 2026
“Police have solid leads and we will soon nab the culprits and ensure exemplary punishment for them,” Gill said.
The motive behind the killing has not yet been established. Police are looking at different angles and have not confirmed any link between the murder and the controversy that Sandhu had recently faced over his social media content.
Nihang extremists threatened Sandhu over his social media content
Sandhu was known for talking about make-up, fashion, gender issues and LGBTQ+ rights on social media. He had around 2.26 lakh followers on Instagram and had also appeared in the Punjabi film Oye Bhole Oye.
In recent months, Sandhu had faced threats from a group of radical Nihang extremists over some of his social media posts, clothing and older videos. Nihangs warned him that his content was hurting Punjab’s culture and its youth
Sandhu had responded to the criticism by saying that he had changed and would not repeat his earlier mistakes. He had also said that some of his old videos were being circulated again to create controversy around him.
Kanchan Kumari’s killing by Nihang extremists
The killing of Mad Sandhu comes more than a year after the murder of social media influencer Kanchan Kumari, also known as Kamal Kaur Bhabhi, by radical Nihang extremists in Punjab in the name of moral policing. Police had revealed that Kanchan was strangled inside her car on 10th June, 2025, over what the accused considered “immoral content.” Her decomposed body was later found in her car on the Bathinda-Chandigarh highway.
Two accused, Jaspreet Singh and Nimaratjeet Singh, were arrested in that case. According to the Bathinda SSP, the two visited Talwandi Sabo, Kharar and Mohali after the murder before they were arrested. They told police that the main accused, Amritpal Singh Mehron, had asked them to flee and promised to help them later.
The Kanchan Kumari murder had also drawn controversy after Akal Takht Sahib head granthi Giani Malkit Singh justified the killing while speaking about people accused of spreading vulgarity and defaming the Sikh community.
The two cases have renewed attention on allegations of moral policing and violence linked to objections over social media content.
