PATIALA : A Patiala court on Friday convicted Punjabi pop singer Daler Mehndi in a 15-year-old human trafficking case. He was sentenced to two years in jail.A fine of Rs 1,000 was also imposed on the singer.Daler was, however, released on bail bond. Mehndi, who was present in the court, was arrested.
The Patiala police had booked Daler and his brother Shamsher Mehndi on a complaint filed by one Bakshish Singh. Around 35 more complaints levelling charges of fraud against the brothers also came up later.The complainants had alleged that the Mehndi brothers had taken ‘passage money’ from them to help them migrate to the US illegally, but failed to do so.
Mr. Singh alleged that the singer had taken money for taking him to Canada.It has been alleged that the Mehndi brothers took two troupes in 1998 and 1999 during the course of which 10 persons were taken to the US as group members and “dropped off” illegally.
Daler Mehndi and brother Shamsher Singh had been accused of illegally sending people abroad disguised as members of his troupe by charging hefty “passage money”. It was alleged that Mehndi brothers had taken two troupes in 1998 and 1999 during the course of which 10 people were taken to the US as group members and were “dropped off” illegally.
Daler, on a trip to the US in the company of Karisma Kapoor and the latter’s mother Babita, had allegedly “dropped off” three girls at San Francisco. The Patiala police had raided the singer’s offices at Connaught Place in New Delhi and seized case files of those who had paid the Mehndi brothers passage money.
In 2006, the Patiala police filed two discharge petitions articulating Daler Mehndi to be innocent, but the court had upheld that Daler Mehndi be prosecuted as there was “sufficient evidence against him on the judicial file and scope for further investigation”. (With Agency Inputs ).