Famous Punjabi singer Daler Mehndi has been sent to jail by the Patiala court on Thursday 14th July 2022. In a 2003 human trafficking case, Daler Mehndi and his brother Shamsher Singh were sentenced to two years in prison. The additional sessions judge of the Patiala court, while upholding the sentence, arrested Daler Mehndi and sent him to jail.
The Patiala Sadar police station had registered an FIR against Daler Mehndi in the case in 2003. Daler Mehndi was sentenced to two years by the trial court, against which Mehndi filed an appeal in the court of additional session judge through his lawyer.
Complainant’s lawyer Advocate Gurmeet Singh told the news agency ANI, “Singer Daler Mehndi has been sentenced to two years of imprisonment in a human trafficking case of 2003. He has been taken into custody (by police). His application for release on probation was also dismissed by court.”
Patiala, Punjab | Singer Daler Mehndi sentenced to two years of imprisonment in a human trafficking case of 2003. He has been taken into custody (by police). His application for release on probation also dismissed by court: Advocate Gurmeet Singh, Complainant’s lawyer pic.twitter.com/bHOwcsHAD4
— ANI (@ANI) July 14, 2022
What is the Daler Mendi Human Trafficking case?
Daler Mehndi was booked in this case in 2003. Mehndi and his brother Shamsher Singh were accused of human trafficking. There were 31 cases registered against the two in the United States of America. According to media reports, the two were accused of illegally taking huge sums of money and sending people abroad.
According to a report by Aaj Tak, between 1998 and 1999, Daler Mehndi illegally took at least 10 people to San Francisco and New Jersey and left them there. A case was then filed against Mehndi and his late brother Shamsher Singh. After the registration of the first case, over 30 complaints were received against the two brothers.
The brothers used to charge Rs 1 crore as passage money to take people abroad. According to people’s complaints, the deals never matured and their money was never refunded. In 2006, the singer’s office in Delhi’s Cannaught Place was raided from where the documents related to the case and the passage money were recovered.
In this case, the court sentenced the singer to two years in jail after 15 years i.e. in 2018, but just 30 minutes after the sentencing, Daler Mehndi was granted bail by the court. Mehndi’s lawyer challenged the decision in the Patiala court, where the court upheld the verdict and sent the singer and his brother to jail.
