Amar Singh Chamkila was killed at Mehsampur in Phillaur tehsil, Jalandhar district, on 8 March 1988, along with his wife Amarjot Kaur and two members of his band. Four died. The case was never solved.
In the village there is an Ambedkar statue opposite the gurdwara, the house where he ate his last meal, and the akhada. Surinder Singh, a former sarpanch, has said: Everyone says he sang vulgar songs, but they were songs about reality, the village life. Makkhan Singh was one of four men who carried the body.
Mehsampur resents being known as a killing field.
Chamkila was born at Dugri near Ludhiana on 20 July 1960, into a poor Dalit Sikh family. His shrine there is laminated newspaper cuttings and photographs beside a rubbish dump. An annual mela on 8 March draws hundreds of singers.
A 2024 film made him internationally known. Neither village has changed.
The village is in Jalandhar district and the killing happened where the party had arrived for an akhara. Two members of the band were killed with the singers.
No charge sheet has ever been filed against anybody. The case has been attributed to several quarters over the years and none of it has been established.
Mehsampur has become a place people go because of the killing, which the village did not ask for. A film of that name was made about the going.