Overview
- Two unidentified men on a motorcycle opened fire at Mad Sandhu on Loharka Road in Amritsar on Saturday, and he died while being taken to hospital after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds.
- Police recovered two spent cartridges at the scene, have formed a special investigation team, and say they have leads toward identifying the motorcycle-borne attackers.
- Sandhu was a prominent Punjabi makeup artist and openly gay social-media influencer who ran the Manelane salon and had a large following for fashion, makeup and LGBTQ+ commentary.
- A graphic video of Sandhu wounded on the road circulated widely on social media, intensifying public attention and prompting political criticism of the state’s law-and-order record.
- Authorities are treating motive as unestablished and are investigating multiple lines of inquiry against the backdrop of a previous 2025 influencer murder in Punjab that raised concerns about moral policing and vigilante threats.