‘Fight against Daler Mehndi proved costly’

PATIALA : “Filing a case against Daler Mehndi proved very costly to me. It took 15 years of my prime age. The accused duped me of ₹ 12 lakh and I have spent nearly ₹ 30 lakh from my pocket to pursue the case. It took almost half of my family wealth,” said Bakshish Singh (38), a resident of Balbera village, who had filed the complaint against pop singer Daler Mehndi and others.

Though the court has awarded two years of imprisonment to Mehndi, Bakshish is dissatisfied.

He said, “Everyone knows that Mehndi is influential. He threatened me and tried to win over me, but I refused to withdraw the case.”

He added, “It took 15 years to prove that I was a victim of Mehndi, who cheated several other youths and made several crores of rupees.”

Bakshish said that Mehndi was the biggest brand in singing industry when he lodged the complaint. “Police was not listening to me, and I had to approach higher officials, who lodged the FIR, after finding that I had enough evidence. However, Mehndi manipulated the things again in 2005 and police declared him innocent.”

He said, “I had to hire private lawyers and spend a lot of money to fight the case. But at last, the truth emerged as victorious.”

He said that it was his family, who supported him to fight the case. He added that Mehndi dashed his hopes to settle in Canada. “He took ₹ 12 lakh from me and didn’t even return my passport. When I complained he threatened of dire consequences and Shamsher (Mehndi’s brother) said that he will kill me. However, I refused to budge and pursued the case.”

Bakshish said that he will now pursue the case against Mehndi’s wife Daljit Kaur, against whom proceedings have been stayed by the Punjab and Haryana high court.

“I will also file an appeal for harsher punishment to Mehndi,” he added.