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Booked for influencer’s murder: Prime accused Mehron no stranger to controversies
The Bathinda district authorities, who were left embarrassed after Mehron flew out of India after allegedly committing murder, were tight-lipped about sharing details from a dossier prepared against the crime plotter.
Wanted in the murder of a woman social media influencer, Kanchan Kumari aka Kamal Kaur Bhabhi, the radical Sikh leader Amritpal Singh Mehron’s brush with controversies is not new, as he is known for being involved in religious and social vigilantism for the last several years.
The Bathinda district authorities, who were left embarrassed after Mehron flew out of India after allegedly committing murder, were tight-lipped about sharing details from a dossier prepared against the crime plotter.
While police teams were raiding different places to nab Mehron, he had flown out and posted audios, videos, and photos on social media platforms justifying the crime.
As per his family, Mehron was never financially independent, but he had only a brief stint of running retail sales of cement at Dalla village about five years ago.
Born to a half Muslim family at Mehron village in Moga district on September 29, 1994, the fugitive leader has at least three criminal cases against him of ‘moral policing’, allegedly leading to murder, attempt to murder, and criminal intimidation.
He also took an unsuccessful plunge in politics when he contested the 2022 assembly elections from Tarn Taran on the ticket of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), a hardliner political front.
Residents of his native village said that Mehron used to move around in SUVs and it is not known who owned it and made the fleet at the disposal of the Nihang leader.
The latest FIR was registered against Mehron, a Nihang, in Bathinda where he has been charged for strangling Kanchan on June 10 for creating ‘immoral content’ for her social media platforms and hurting the sentiments of Sikhs.
According to the Bathinda police, Mehron was booked for thrashing a producer in Barnala for allegedly creating obscene music. A case was registered at the Dhanaula police station in 2021.
Before that, Mehron was booked at the D-division police station in Amritsar in 2020, where he was allegedly involved in vandalising statues on the heritage street around the Golden Temple. Statues of folk dancers that were installed were damaged by Mehron and others, citing that it was against the Sikh traditions.
According to the information, another case was registered against him in Ludhiana in November 2022 for flaunting weapons on social media and threatening Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring when he objected to his doing so.
Mehron leads a self-styled radical organisation, ‘Qaum De Rakhe’, and the observers opine that the Nihang leader was trying to attract community eyeballs.
He had success in influencing people as his social media pages, particularly Instagram, had a sizable following.
These pages were blocked on June 14 after several posts were spotted issuing death threats to the digital content creators and making racial comments.
Information gathered on Sunday stated that he belonged to a family of masons, and the family commands respect.
Mehron’s father, Baljinder Singh, remained a block samiti member from 2013-18. Baljinder says that despite being born a Muslim, he practices Sikhism, and Mehron follows him.
“My wife flew to Australia to visit our daughter, and Amrit went to drop her off at the airport on June 1. Since then, I have not spoken to him and we learnt about his involvement in the murder case from the media,” he added.
About 10 years ago, Mehron went to Malaysia through an agent. But after tasting an exploitative experience, he took shelter in a gurdwara, returned to India after four months and turned more to socio-religious activities, adds Baljinder.
Baljinder said he would like Amrit to come back to India and face the probe.
