Akal Takht head priest justifies murder of social media influencer 'Kamal Kaur Bhabhi'

Amritsar: The head priest of the Akal Takht has justified the killing of social media influencer Kanchan Kumari, saying "nothing wrong has happened" and nobody should listen to obscene songs.

Kanchan, also known as 'Kamal Kaur Bhabhi', was allegedly targeted for promoting obscenity in her videos. She was murdered on June 9 and her body found in an abandoned car in Bathinda.

"As per Sikh religion's teaching, nobody, including Hindus and Muslims, should listen to obscene songs, especially the young Sikh generation," Giani Malkeet Singh, the head granthi of the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikhism, told reporters on Monday.

Responding to a question about the murder, he said, "But such people, who are from other religions, change their name, create a false identity to defame the Sikh community, indulge in such acts... this kind of treatment should be meted out to them. Nothing wrong has happened. This has happened earlier as well." Two men, Jaspreet Singh (32) from Moga and Nimratjit Singh (21) from Tarn Taran, have been arrested. The accused told police they killed Kanchan for uploading "immoral and vulgar content that hurt the community's sentiments".

Bathinda police have also issued a lookout circular for Amritpal Singh Mehron, a self-styled Sikh radical leader and the key accused. Mehron fled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) hours after the murder, officials said.

The 30-year-old Moga resident is also accused of issuing threats to at least two other state-based women social media influencers, according to police. A video, which surfaced on social media after the murder, purportedly shows Mehron saying Kanchan was killed by two of his accomplices.

Kanchan, known on Instagram as 'Kamal Kaur Bhabhi' with 384,000 followers, also operated a YouTube channel called 'Funny Bhabhi TV,' which has 236,000 subscribers.