It has been reported that Punjabi pop singer Daler Mehndi, 50, was granted bail just minutes after he was sentenced to two years in jail in a 2003 human trafficking case by a court in Patiala. The 50-year-old singer was convicted by the Patiala Court today and immediately taken into custody by the Punjab Police.
Daler Mehndi and his brother, Shamsher Singh were accused of illegally sending people abroad by disguising them as his troupe members through charging them hefty “passage money.”
The brothers allegedly took two troupes in 1998 and 1999 wherein 10 people were taken to US disguised as group members and were illegally “dropped off”. During a trip with an actress, Daler Mehndi allegedly “dropped off” three girls at San Francisco.
The brothers reportedly took another troupe to US in October 1999 accompanied by actors wherein three boys were “dropped off” at New Jersey.
Shortly after Patiala Police registered a case against Daler Mehndi and Shamsher Singh more complaints levelling charges of fraud against them came up.
The complaints allege that despite the brothers having taken “passage money” in order to help them migrate to the US “illegally”, they had failed to do so.
The Patiala Police also raided Daler Mehndi’s offices at Connaught Place, New Delhi and seized documents which included case files of the people who had paid the alleged “passage money”.
