Fifteen years after he was accused of human trafficking, pop singer Daler Mehndi was convicted by a court in Patiala today. He and his brother, Shamsher Singh were accused of illegally ‘dropping people’ abroad during their foreign tours. The duo was awarded a punishment of two years in jail but acquired a bail immediately after the sentence. The singer has said that he would appeal in the higher court against the Patiala court order.
Singer #DalerMehndi convicted in #HumanTrafficking case, gets bail
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— ANI Digital (@ani_digital) March 16, 2018
Daler Mehndi became popular among Indian crowds with his songs like ‘Bolo Tara Ra Ra’, ‘Tunak Tunak Tun’ and ‘Sadde Naal Rahoge’ in late 90s. Shamsher Singh died in October last year, after a brief illness.
As per reports, the prosecution, in their complaint in 2003, had alleged that the two brothers took Rs 1 crore from them promising to send them abroad and failed to return their money, even when the deal never materialised.
The modus operandi of the two brothers was simple — during their foreign tours, the two brothers used to take people as their troupe members. After the tour was over, the duo would leave these people (who’d paid them) behind. Daler and Shamsher dropped as many as 10 people on their US tours between 1998 and 1999. Three girls were left behind in San Fransisco and three boys were dropped off in New Jersey.
As per NDTV, after the complaint was registered with the Patiala police, the police raided singer’s Connaught Place office in Delhi and found evidence against him and his brother. But in 2006, while the police discharged the two brothers of any wrongdoing, the court upheld the decision to pursue the case, citing that there was “sufficient evidence against him on the judicial file and scope for further investigation.”
