The saga began with the brazen killing of Biru Balmiki, 25, on the evening of August 5. Two men drew up beside him as he rode his Scooty on Hansi Road and shot him in the head. Karnal, which has only emerged as an epicentre of state politics since Manohar Lal Khattar became the chief minister in 2014 and made it his pocket borough, was stunned by this targeted hit.
More was to follow. Angry over Biru’s killing, the Balmiki community brought Karnal to a halt, with community leaders from across the region joining a sit-in held at Karnal, along with Hindu Raksha Dal members.
Local BJP MLA Jagmohan Anand promised swift justice. As protesters shouted “goli ke badle goli (a bullet for a bullet)”, the MLA reportedly told them, “Sham tak result milega, kore kaagaz pe dastakhat kara lo (You’ll have a result by the evening, get my signature on a blank paper if you want).”
On the morning of August 7, less than two days after Biru was killed, police shot down the two alleged shooters – Harsh, 23, a Ror from Kala Majra near Nilokheri, and Birbal, about 29, a Dalit youth from Matarwa Kheri in Kaithal – in an alleged encounter.
The Rors, a small but influential upper caste group spread across Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan – which counts javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra and Haryana Speaker Harvinder Kalyan among its own – now took up the hatchet. Pointing out that Harsh and Birbal were not named in the original FIR, they accused police of killing them in a staged encounter.
Family members of Biru Valmiki. (Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh)
On August 16, Hindu Raksha Dal members and Balmiki leaders were present for Biru’s bhog ceremony, raising slogans of Jai Bhim, Jai Balmiki and Jai Shri Ram.
On Monday, the Rors held a mahapanchayat in Karnal, calling it the biggest-ever “rosh pradarshan (expression of anger)” in the town’s history. Nirmal Singh Staundi, a former vice-president of the National Ror Mahasabha, sought justice for Harsh and action against MLA Anand.
The Rors are also demanding a probe by the CBI or a sitting High Court judge, and reject the SIT appointed by the government. They also want the SP to be transferred while the probe is on.
Biru’s father Tony and his cousin Ravi Sauda tell The Indian Express the encounter was justified: “Had Biru killed someone, he would have also met the same fate.”
Hovering over both narratives is a 23-year-old who is believed to be based in Europe and alleged to have links with the Trishul gang – Vansh Sharma alias ‘Shooter Samana’, who had threatened Biru in the past, and who has claimed responsibility for his death on Instagram.
After the killing, accounts linked to Sharma called the two dead shooters “shaheed (martyrs)”. A newer video shows him displaying weapons and a grenade while talking of a fresh “mission”.
Vansh has also threatened Biru’s friend and business partner Simpal Sethi – the two ran a pig farm together. Sethi is now under police protection.
A murder born in the Insta age
Depending on whom you speak with, different shades emerge of Biru. To the outside world, the 25-year-old was a “stylish”, socially active, young man, fond of flexing online. His family admits his prior history of cases, including quarrels, assault and an arms matter, but points out that he was never linked to murder. His mother Mamta describes her only son among four children as “devout”, who wanted to be a Kanwariya and take a trip to Haridwar. His younger sister Muskan recalls his arm “lined with rakhi”, tied by local girls who treated him as a brother.
Biru, who had dreams of opening a juice shop, got married just six months ago.
Sethi traces Biru’s feud with Sharma to his stint in jail last year over a case of assault, during which Biru was beaten up. This led to the two trading abuses online over who was the “baap” of Karnal.
Cousin Ravi says Biru had approached the cyber cell a week before he was killed, after receiving threatening calls from overseas numbers, but that police didn’t take them seriously.
Police say the investigation into Biru’s killing led them quickly to Harsh and Birbal, and have released CCTV footage that shows the two approaching the 25-year-old before the shooting.
Another accused, Yogesh Kapoor, who is among the five people named by Biru’s family in their FIR, was arrested at Mumbai airport on August 16 after deportation from Dubai. Police claim Kapoor has also named Harsh and Birbal as the shooters and said Sharma had arranged the weapons.
“Does this look like the house of a gangster?”
In Kala Majra, a village of around 150 people, about 15 km from Karnal, Harsh’s family tells a different story. Orphaned at a young age, they say Harsh dropped out after Class 9 to work as a welder and supported his two younger brothers.
“Look at the condition of this house. Does it look like that of a gangster?” says his uncle Banarsi Das, pointing to the small brick-lined rooms without plaster that leak during rains.
The family also asks what concrete evidence links Harsh to Biru’s murder. His brother Rohit, 21, says the CCTV footage provided by police is too grainy. Village sarpanch Harish Kumar also vouches for Harsh, saying he had only been in conflict with the law once, when he was jailed over a matrimonial case last year.
The family also asks what concrete evidence links Harsh to Biru’s murder. (Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh)
Harsh’s wife left him with their daughter seven months ago, and was not present at his cremation.
Nirmal Staundi calls the police version “full of inconsistencies”: “We don’t want any job or compensation… Give us a CBI probe.”
The demand has resonated across the Ror belt spanning Karnal, Kaithal, Kurukshetra, Panipat, and parts of Sonipat and western UP, driven less by doubt over Harsh’s innocence than by fear that the state bent to street pressure.
Caste in the mix
Both sides insist caste isn’t the issue, with Sharma, a Brahmin, declaring that he bears no enmity towards the Balmikis.
But advocate Sonia Tanwar, who addressed the Balmiki protesters, says real justice will elude them till Sharma, the alleged mastermind, and the others named by the family remain at large.
BJP district in-charge Praveen Lather argues that the killing was gang rivalry, not caste conflict, and accuses the Congress of stoking the protests. Congress district in-charge Parag Gaba rubbishes this, and blames it on MLA Anand. The latter declines an interview, adding that whatever he said was “to ensure peace”.
The town has also splintered along other lines. Besides the Ror-Balmiki tension, Punjabis are rallying behind fellow Punjabi Anand, while Jats defend Superintendent of Police Narendra Bijarniya against calls for his transfer.
Advocate Gaurav Handuja, whose family has lived in Karnal for generations, says the city has traditionally been peaceful across its 36 biradaris, home to institutions like the ICAR National Dairy Research Institute. The deeper problem, he argues, is the glorification of crime, weapons and gangster songs, drawing economically weak young men, until the distance between a digital insult and a real killing collapses. Biru and his alleged killers, he suggests, were caught in exactly that space.
As Handuja puts it: “An encounter cannot be accepted merely because the victims were accused of a murder. Nor can a murder investigation be discredited merely because the alleged shooters belonged to another caste.”
Ultimately, the test for Karnal won’t be whose version is proved right. It will be whether the law can hold its ground between them.
Harsh, 23, a Ror from Kala Majra near Nilokheri (left) and Biru Balmiki, 25 (right). (Express Photos by Kamleshwar Singh) 
Family members of Biru Valmiki. (Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh)
The family also asks what concrete evidence links Harsh to Biru’s murder. (Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh)
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