Daler Mehndi gets 2-yr jail, granted bail

PATIALA: Punjabi pop singer Daler Mehndi was on Friday convicted in a 2003 human trafficking case by a court in Patiala. He was sentenced to two years in jail and was later granted bail.

“I have been granted bail. We will appeal in higher court,” the singer said.

Holding Daler guilty under Section 420 (cheating) and 120B (conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, the court of judicial magistrate Nidhi Saini also imposed a fine of ₹2,000 on him.

The police had booked Daler and his brother Shamsher Mehndi — who died last year — and two others on a complaint filed by Bakshish Singh of Balbera. He alleged that Mehndi took ₹12 lakh to send him to Canada. Around 35 more complaints, levelling charges of fraud against the brothers, came up later.

While Shamsher and Dhian Singh died during trail, Bulbul Mehta, an employee of Mehndi firm, was acquitted for lack of evidence. The complainants had alleged that Mehandi brothers had taken “passage money” from them to help them migrate to the US illegally, but failed to do so.

It was also alleged that Mehndi brothers had taken two troupes in 1998 and 1999 during which 10 people were taken to the US as group members and were “dropped off” illegally.

Patiala police had even raided the offices of Daler at Connaught Place in New Delhi and seized documents, including the case file of those who had paid the alleged “passage money” to Mehndi brothers.