Chandigarh: A day after Nihang Sikh Amritpal Singh Mehron, wanted in the murder case of influencer Kamal Kaur Bhabhi, issued threats to social media influencers in Punjab, Pakistani gangster Shahzad Bhatti vowed support to him “in every possible way”.
Referring to the killing of Kamal Kaur (alias Kanchan Kumari), Bhatti “appreciated” Mehron, and said the focus should not only be on women but men too who are spreading “vulgarity” on social media.
“These are worms,” Bhatti said in a video message issued through Instagram, “who are bringing a bad name to Sikhs and Punjab. I feel it because I too am a Punjabi.“
He goes on to add, “If you kill just two or three of them, everything will become fine…In this work whatever you need, just leave a message and my boys will ensure the message reaches me. Wherever you want and whatever you want will be given to you.”
Mehron is wanted in the murder case of influencer Kanchan Kumari who was found dead in her car in Bathinda Tuesday. Mehron’s two associates—Jaspreet Singh and Nimratjit Singh—were arrested by the Bathinda police Friday.
When contacted, Bathinda Senior Superintendent of Police Amneet Kondal told ThePrint that police teams were looking for Mehron and a look out notice has been issued against him.
While on the run, Mehron issued a 30-minute video message on his Instagram handle Friday, justifying Kanchan Kumari’s killing. He also asked other Punjab-based influencers to delete vulgar content from their handles failing which, he warned, they will meet the same fate as Kanchan Kumari.
Punjab Additional Director General of Police (cybercrime) V Neeraja told ThePrint action is being taken against Mehron’s social media accounts. “The original content has been taken down and our teams are in the process of removing the content which has been reposted on other accounts.”
Also Read:‘Delete or you’ll find me nearby’—Kamal Kaur Bhabhi murder accused’s chilling message to influencers
Bhatti behind attack on influencer
In March this year, Bhatti claimed responsibility for a grenade attack on social media influencer Rozer Sandhu’s house in Jalandhar. Bhatti claimed he orchestrated the attack as Sandhu made offensive remarks against Islam. Bhatti said five people were engaged in the attack and thanked his associates Zeeshan Akhtar and Khalistani militant Happy Passia for their support.
Bhatti was in the news last month for threatening Punjab gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, lodged in a jail in Gujarat. Through a video message, Bhatti warned Bishnoi of exposing the conspiracy leading to the murder of NCP leader Baba Siddique and Singer Sidhu Moosewala. Bishnoi is an accused in both these cases.
Bhatti allegedly turned against Bishnoi after the latter’s gang members vowed to take revenge from Pakistan over the killing of innocent tourists in the Pahalgam Terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir 22 April.
Interestingly, Mehron had last month visited Himanshi Narwal, the widow of Pahalgam victim slain navy officer Vinay Narwal, to express sympathy with her.
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Influencers apologise after threat
Apart from issuing a general warning to Punjab influencers in his video message, Mehron also named some influencers for their content.
Fearing for their lives, some of these Saturday extended apologies through their official accounts, promising to change their ways.
Preet Jatti, an influencer named by Mehron in his video, reported in a video message that she was receiving threatening calls. She said she had stopped putting any kind of objectionable material on her pages. She added she had a five-month-old child and was undergoing a lot of stress because of the threatening calls and messages that she was getting.
“Sometime back, I was asked by Mehron not to promote astrologers and since then I have not posted any video promoting astrologers. And yet they continue to have a problem with me. I am being told that I have only two days to live,” she said in a video message, crying incessantly.
Deepika Luthra, another influencer who Mehron issued a “last warning” in his video, has apart from apologising approached the Amritsar police for security. Following Luthra’s complaint, the Amritsar police registered a case against Mehron for threatening her.
Luthra told media persons Saturday that two months ago, she was called to Moga for a promotional event by Mehron and his associates posing to be clients.
“However, before I could go to the event I got a call from them saying that they had come to Amritsar and the event video could be recorded in a house nearby. I dropped in with my team on the location sent by Mehron and reached a village road where I was waylaid. Mehron made me sit in a chair next to him and started recording a video of that meeting. He questioned me about the content that I make and asked me to delete my account. Then they took my phone from me and deleted my posts,” she told the mediapersons.
A video of the incident has since gone viral on social media.
Three youth running social media account ‘pendu jatt records’, which was also named by Mehron in his message, also issued a video statement, seeking an apology from the Sikh community and Mehron for creating and uploading vulgar content.
Canada-based influencer Surleen Kaur, though not named by Mehron, issued a video statement on her Instagram that she had been also receiving threats since Friday.
“What about the people who watch the content we make? If people start watching good quality content we will be forced to make decent content. I tried. For a good song I got 5 lakh views and for a dirty song I got 10 million views. So who is responsible for the spread of such content? As far as life and death is concerned whatever is destined to happen will happen. I am going through a very bad phase in my life because my father is on the ventilator and yet I am being tagged in threatening messages,” she said.
Mehron faces criticism from community
Meanwhile, Nihang leader Harjeet Singh Rasulpur took to social media Saturday and criticized Mehron for blackmailing people.
“If anyone is feeling threatened by Mehron, they are free to approach me and I will stand by them. It is a shame that Mehron is donning the dress of a Nihang and using it to issue threats and kill. Why is Mehron and his men even watching this kind of content? If somebody wants to show their own character through their social media posts, what is Mehron’s business in it?” Said Rasulpur.
Another Sikh leader, Giani Buta Singh, issued a video statement alleging the two associates of Mehron arrested by the police for the murder of Kanchan Kumari “raped her” before killing her using a part of the sacred cloth donned by Nihangs. He criticised Mehron for unleashing fear in the state.
SSP Kondal told ThePrint there was no confirmation whatsoever about Kanchan Kumari having been raped. “These are unsubstantiated claims. The victim’s postmortem report is still awaited,” she said.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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