On a Saturday evening in Amritsar, a young man who had chosen visibility over silence was shot dead on Loharka road by two men on a motorcycle. Madhusudan Singh, known as Mad Sandhu, was 25 years old — a makeup artist, a film industry collaborator, and one of Punjab's most recognizable LGBTQ+ voices on social media. He had long understood the price of speaking openly in spaces that were not always ready to receive him, and he had spoken anyway. His killers remain unidentified, their motive unconfirmed, and his death now joins a growing and troubling question about whether those who create and
LGBTQ+ Influencer Mad Sandhu Shot Dead in Amritsar; Motive Unclear
Mad Sandhu, a 25-year-old social media influencer, was shot and killed by two unidentified assailants in Amritsar.
He knew the cost of that visibility. He continued anyway.
Mark
So we know two men on a motorcycle shot him. Do we know anything about them at all?
Mimi
Not yet. They haven't been identified. Police have teams working on it, but there's nothing public about who they are or where they went.
Luke
Which means we're in a moment where the story is still forming. We don't know if this was targeted or random, personal or ideological.
Mimi
Right. And that uncertainty matters because Sandhu was openly gay, openly vocal about LGBTQ+ rights, and he faced harassment online. So people are naturally asking whether that's connected.
Mark
But police haven't said it is?
Luke
No. They've explicitly said they haven't confirmed a motive. That's important to hold onto—it's not that they've ruled it out. It's that they don't know yet.
Mimi
He was a visible person in Punjab's LGBTQ+ community. He spoke about his identity on podcasts, made content about makeup and social issues. He knew he faced backlash for it.
Mark
And then there's the Kamal Kaur Bhabhi case from last year.
Luke
Which is instructive but not conclusive. That case involved someone who was killed allegedly because her content was deemed immoral. But police say there's no connection to Sandhu's case.
Mimi
Still, it raises the question: are online creators in Punjab facing a particular kind of risk?
Mark
What happens next?
Luke
Police continue investigating. They need to identify the shooters and establish motive. Until then, we're reporting what we know—the shooting happened, the victim was a visible LGBTQ+ advocate, and the reason he was killed is still unknown.
Il Polso
- Two unidentified men on a motorcycle opened fire on Mad Sandhu around 6 pm on Loharka road, killing him before he could reach a hospital.
- Video of his body circulated on social media within hours — a cruel irony for a man whose life and identity had been built in that same digital space.
- Police have formed multiple investigation teams but made no arrests, and the motive — whether rooted in his LGBTQ+ advocacy, his online presence, or something else — remains officially unknown.
- The killing has drawn unavoidable comparisons to the 2025 murder of Punjabi influencer Kamal Kaur Bhabhi, whose killers cited moral objections to her content, though police say the two cases are unconnected.
- A wider unease is settling over Punjab's creator community: the question of whether public identity — especially queer identity — now carries a measurable and mortal risk.
On a Saturday evening in Amritsar, a young man who had chosen visibility over silence was shot dead on Loharka road by two men on a motorcycle. Madhusudan Singh, known as Mad Sandhu, was 25 years old — a makeup artist, a film industry collaborator, and one of Punjab's most recognizable LGBTQ+ voices on social media. He had long understood the price of speaking openly in spaces that were not always ready to receive him, and he had spoken anyway. His killers remain unidentified, their motive unconfirmed, and his death now joins a growing and troubling question about whether those who create and advocate in public life in India are being made to pay for it.
On a Saturday evening in Amritsar, two men on a motorcycle pulled up to Loharka road and opened fire on Madhusudan Singh, the Punjabi makeup artist and social media personality known to hundreds of thousands of followers as Mad Sandhu. He was 25 years old. He did not survive the journey to hospital. By nightfall, footage of his body on the road was already spreading across the platforms where he had built his life.
Sandhu had carved out a distinctive presence in Punjab's digital landscape — through Instagram reels, lifestyle content, and candid conversations about being gay, about makeup, about the film industry, and about what it costs to move through the world as someone like him. He had worked as a stylist and assistant costume designer on film projects in Punjab and Mumbai, and appeared in Punjabi cinema. But it was his willingness to speak openly — about identity, acceptance, and the attitudes that shape both — that made him a meaningful figure in the region's LGBTQ+ community. He faced homophobic harassment online regularly. He continued anyway.
The two shooters remain unidentified. Police have formed multiple investigation teams, but no arrests had been made as of the reporting date. Authorities confirmed the basic facts of the attack but have not established a motive — leaving open the question of whether Sandhu was targeted for his advocacy, his public identity as a gay man, his social media presence, or something else entirely.
The killing has drawn comparisons to the June 2025 murder of Kanchan Kumari — known online as Kamal Kaur Bhabhi — a Ludhiana-based influencer who was lured from her home, abducted, and killed. Investigators alleged that her killers objected to her content on moral grounds. One suspect fled to the Middle East before being deported and arrested in 2026. Police say there is no established connection between that case and Sandhu's shooting. But the proximity, the shared geography, and the shared profession have made the parallel difficult to ignore — and the underlying question harder to dismiss: whether creators in Punjab, and particularly those whose work or identity challenges prevailing norms, now face a danger that is both real and largely unacknowledged.
On Saturday evening around 6 p.m., two men on a motorcycle pulled up to Loharka road in Amritsar and opened fire. When the shooting stopped, Madhusudan—known to his hundreds of thousands of followers as Mad Sandhu—lay on the pavement with a gunshot wound. He was rushed toward a hospital but did not survive the journey. By evening, a video of his body on the road had begun circulating across social media.
Sandhu, a Punjabi makeup artist and social media influencer, had built a substantial following through Instagram reels, lifestyle content, and frank discussions about gender identity and social acceptance. He had worked as a stylist and assistant costume designer on film projects in Punjab and Mumbai, and appeared in Punjabi films including the Oye Bhole Oye series. But it was his presence on podcasts and social platforms—where he spoke openly about being gay, about makeup, about the film industry, and about the attitudes that shape how people like him move through the world—that made him a recognizable figure in the region's LGBTQ+ community. He knew the cost of that visibility. He faced homophobic comments regularly online. He continued anyway.
The two shooters remain unidentified. Police have formed multiple investigation teams to trace them, but as of the reporting date, no arrests had been made. The Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police confirmed that two men on a motorcycle carried out the attack, but the department has not established a motive. Whether Sandhu was targeted because of his social media presence, his advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights, his public identity as a gay man, or something else entirely—that remains officially unknown.
The killing has drawn comparisons to another high-profile case from Punjab. In June 2025, Kanchan Kumari, a social media influencer known as Kamal Kaur Bhabhi, was murdered. Police said she had been lured from her home in Ludhiana under false pretenses, abducted, and killed. Her body was found in a parked car in Bathinda. Investigators alleged that the accused objected to her online content, calling it immoral and vulgar. One suspect, Amritpal Singh Mehron, fled to the Middle East after the killing but was deported and arrested at Delhi's airport in April 2026. Others involved were also arrested. That case surfaced a pattern of threats and moral policing directed at online creators—people whose work or identity or both offended someone enough to warrant violence.
Police have stated they have found no connection between Kumari's murder and Sandhu's shooting. The two cases remain separate investigations. But the proximity in time, the fact that both victims were social media personalities in Punjab, and the underlying question—whether creators face heightened risk because of what they make or who they are—hangs over both. Sandhu's killers are still at large. The motive remains unclear. And the investigation continues.
Citazioni salienti
Two unidentified men fired at Sandhu. Police have formed multiple teams to investigate the case and trace the suspects.— Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Sirivennela
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