New Delhi: A Rs 16,000 money trail helped the Punjab Police track the main shooter involved in the murder of LGBTQ social media influencer Madhusudan Sandhu, popular as Mad Sandhu, who was shot dead outside a garage in Amritsar last week.
According to Amritsar Police Commissioner Harmanbir Singh Gill, the money had been transferred to the bank account of the elder brother of the main shooter—identified as Parminder alias Kaka—by a network run by a foreign-based gangster.
He said the money trail was examined after the police had identified the shooters—the identity of the second shooter has not been revealed—and looked into bank accounts linked to them and their relatives. It led them to Kaka’s elder brother Amandeep Singh.
Gill told a press conference Thursday the brother paid Kaka Rs 11,000 from this money, while the rest went to another person involved in the attack.
After the attack, Kaka fled to Gujarat. He has five cases registered against him in Punjab.
Gill said Kaka was tricked into scanning a QR code sent from his brother’s phone, when Kaka reached out to him for additional money. By the time Amandeep Singh was already in custody. This helped them locate Kaka’s whereabouts in Gujarat, he said.
“He approached his brother for money, unaware that his elder brother was already under police custody,” Gill told the press conference Thursday. “He (Parminder) was played into scanning a QR code for payment, which provided a positive input about his location.”
Kaka was arrested Wednesday evening by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch, and an Amritsar Police team has reached Gujarat to secure his custody. The Amritsar police has so far arrested six accused, including the duo who allegedly tracked Sandhu’s movement in the days leading up to the attack on 3 October.
The second shooter has been identified but is still at large, Gill said.
Commissionerate Police Amritsar, in a joint operation with Gujarat Police, has solved the murder case of influencer Madhusudan Singh @ Mad Sandhu and arrested six accused.
During the operation, the main accused/shooter was arrested from Gujarat with the assistance of Gujarat… pic.twitter.com/DcuWtpaEDt
— Commissionerate Police Amritsar (@cpamritsar) October 8, 2026
Sandhu, who had a following of 2.29 lakh on Instagram, was an outspoken member of the LGBTQ community and was often criticised and threatened by some conservative groups who claimed “boys were becoming gay” under his “bad influence”.
Sandhu was shot dead around 6 pm at Loharka Road in Amritsar while waiting at a garage where his SUV was being washed. The sensational murder triggered widespread outcry on social media.
A social media post within hours, attributed to Lawrence Bishnoi gang member Goldy Dhillon, blamed Sandhu for being a bad influence on the youth in the state.
Amritsar Police Chief Gill confirmed the role of Dhillon in Sandhu’s killing but said the extent of the module would be clear only after the arrest of all the accused.
“As of now, it is now clear that these accused are linked to Goldy Dhillon, and we are identifying who all are his associates and worked with him for this killing. We are also working on all syndicates of this gang, even those outside of this case, and they will be arrested soon,” Gill said.
Gill did not say what was the exact motive behind the killing. “As of now, it appears that it is a case of earning notoriety. These gangsters want to earn a name for themselves by carrying out such killings in the region to create fear and terror in the minds of the public and businessmen of the area so that they can be called and extorted money from,” Gill said.
Also read: Mad Sandhu’s last months—A Nihang warning, online threats, request for protection
The money trail
Gill told the press conference that after the shooters involved in the attack were identified a team led by three officers—DCP (Investigation) Prabhjot Virk, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Sirivennela and DCP (City) Jaskiranjit Singh Teja—looked into monetary transactions linked to them.
The probe into monetary transactions led the investigators to Kaka’s elder brother, Amandeep, a resident of Lohian Khas village in Jalandhar.
“It was found that Amandeep had received Rs 16,000 in his bank account, out of which Rs 11,000 was given to his brother Kaka, who carried out the killing, while Rs 5,000 was handed over to another person from the same region,” Gill further said.
A third person was also given money, and he has been identified as Paramvir Singh, who arranged weapons for the killing, Gill further said.
As part of the investigation, the police also reached Balraj Singh and Vikas Singh, residents of nearby villages who allegedly kept on eye on Sandhu’s movements.
“It was not a recce of one particular day, and instead his movement was followed and observed by the local duo who kept chasing him on one or the other pretext,” Gill said.
The police also nabbed one Tarn Taran man, Baljinder Singh, for allegedly arranging weapons and a Pulsar bike used in the crime.
“Weapons were arranged by both Parveer and Baljinder, and there were two bikes used in the conspiracy along with four weapons. There will be more clarity after the arrest of the second shooter which is just a matter of time,” Gill said.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
Also read: Punjab’s culture thekedaars have found their easiest targets—Influencers