Muzaffarnagar:
The wife of murdered Haryanvi singer and YouTuber Ankit Balyan on Friday threatened to self-immolate if police fail to arrest her husband’s killers within four days.
She said she would take the extreme step outside the Shamli subdivisional magistrate’s office or the residence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Speaking to reporters at Banti Kheda village in Shamli district, Seema, a teacher in Delhi, said she is dissatisfied with the police investigation and would be forced to commit self-immolation if the accused are not arrested within four days. A video of her statement has surfaced on social media.
Seema also alleged that her husband had sought police security but was denied protection.
Balyan was leaving a gym in the Kotwali area of Shamli on Wednesday evening when four persons travelling on two motorcycles opened fire on him. Balyan was rushed to a nearby community health centre, where he was declared dead.
A video of the attack has surfaced on social media, showing Balyan emerging from the gym and walking towards his car when the four murderers arrive on two motorcycles and open fire at him before fleeing the spot.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav spoke to Balyan’s father Satvir Singh over the phone on Friday, when the party’s Kairana MP Iqra Hasan was meeting the bereaved family at Banti Kheda.
Yadav assured Singh that his party would stand with the family at every step in its fight for justice.
Later in a post on X, Yadav accused the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh and its “inactive allies” of leaving the Balyan community disappointed through their “inaction and biased attitude” in the murder case.
“Today or tomorrow, there will be justice when there is change,” Yadav said, assuring the Balyan community that his party would not allow injustice to be done to the bereaved family.
He also said that SP’s public representatives would remain in contact with the family and provide all possible help.
In an X post on Thursday, Hasan had termed the killing of the popular singer “extremely sad and shocking” and demanded a fair and speedy probe and early arrest of the killers.
Police have formed several teams to arrest the assailants, but no arrests were made till Friday, the third day after the killing.
Teams from Shamli, Muzaffarnagar and Baghpat districts, along with the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force, have gone to Haryana as part of the investigation.
CCTV camera footage from several locations in Shamli, Loni in Ghaziabad, Delhi and Sonipat has captured four men allegedly fleeing on two motorcycles after the shooting, sources said.
Police have not officially confirmed the details.
Azad Samaj Party chief and Nagina MP Chandrashekhar Aazad has condemned the killing, describing the shooting of Balyan as “extremely sad and concerning”.
Aazad also termed a social media post by a gang claiming responsibility for the murder “extremely serious” and questioned the claims of a crackdown on organised gangs in Uttar Pradesh.
He urged the state government to arrest the killers immediately, expose the criminal network behind the murder and take strict action against all those involved.
According to sources, Balyan’s post-mortem found five gunshot injuries, including two to the head.
A day after the killing, a person claiming to be a member of the Gogi gang allegedly took responsibility for the murder in a social media post. Police are examining the veracity of the claim.
Meerut Zone ADGP Bhanu Bhaskar had earlier said that police had gathered crucial clues but did not disclose the details.
“We have got several clues, but it would not be appropriate to make them public. They will be disclosed very soon,” he had said.
Balyan, a resident of Banti Kheda, had made a name in the Haryanvi music industry after an injury ended his career as a state-level kabaddi player. He worked on more than 50 songs as a singer, lyricist and music composer.
His killing has triggered protests in Shamli, with his family demanding immediate arrest of the attackers.
The murder has also triggered a political row, with the SP and the Congress targeting the BJP-led state government over law and order.
SP leaders have also demanded that the investigators probe the possibility of political rivalry.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
