Ankit Balyan, Haryanvi singer and Youtuber, was shot dead outside a gym in Shamli district.
Youtuber and Haryanvi singer Ankit Balyan was shot dead by unidentified assailants outside a gym in Shamli district on Wednesday evening, police said.
Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav termed Balyan’s killing “highly condemnable”, saying the “law and order” situation had been reduced to “zero” and demanded investigation into possible political rivalry.
The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister also called it an attack on the Jat community.
The incident took place in the Kotwali police station area when Balyan was coming out of the gym, they said.
Speculation was rife that Balyan was planning to contest upcoming panchayat polls, but there was no official confirmation from authorities or his associates immediately on it and if that could be the reason behind his killing.
Superintendent of Police M P Singh told reporters that police rushed to the spot after receiving information about the shooting.
“The body has been sent for a post-mortem examination, and an investigation is underway. Police teams have been formed to arrest the accused,” he said.
According to police, the assailants arrived on two motorcycles and opened several rounds of fire at Balyan. He died on the spot.
Police are examining CCTV footage from the area to identify the attackers, officials said.
Balyan was a Youtuber with over 3.66 lakh subscribers. He featured in his videos as a singer and performer with different collaborators. Several of his videos showed the use of guns, firearms and SUVs.
Meanwhile, SP chief Yadav on Wednesday evening condemned the killing of Balyan, saying the incident reflected the deteriorating law-and-order situation in Uttar Pradesh and had created “fear” in the region.
“The way popular singer Ankit Balyan was brutally murdered in Shamli by firing 18 rounds, reducing Uttar Pradesh’s law and order to zero, has created fear throughout the region,” the SP chief said in a post on X, along with a news clip image.
Describing reports of Balyan’s mother mourning on the road with her son’s body in her lap as “heart-wrenching”, Yadav said the Jat community had raised its demand for the immediate arrest of the attackers.