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Punjabi singer Daler Mehndi was on Friday sentenced to two years in prison after he was convicted in a 15-year-old human trafficking case by a Patialia court, according to media reports. Police had registered a case against Mehndi, his brother Shamsher Singh -- who died in last October -- and two others after it was alleged that the accused took money from people to the tune of Rs 1 crore on the pretext of taking them abroad.
A complainant, Bakhshish Singh, alleged that the deal never matured and the accused failed to return the money.
The case was registered in 2003 in Patiala. Daler was subsequently arrested and released on bail after a few days.
Pleading innocence, Daler told the media on Friday: "I have been granted bail. We will appeal in a higher court."
Police had earlier moved two petitions before the court saying that Daler was not required in the case as he had nothing to do with the immigration fraud, called 'kabootarbaazi' -- meaning flying pigeons referring to numerous youth in Punjab trying to use illegal means to settle abroad.
Daler was arrested by the police in October 2003 along with Shamsher after the complainant said he was duped of a huge sum of money by the brothers, who had promised to take him abroad as part of their musical group and to leave him in some western country to settle there.
ALSO READ: Will appeal in higher court: Daler Mehndi Here is all you need to know about the Daler Mehndi 2003 human trafficking case: 1. "Organised" angry mob surrounded Mika, Daler's vehicles Daler Mehndi's younger brother, singer Mika, who accompanied him during the surrender in 2003, had to beat a hasty retreat near the police station when an "organised" angry mob surrounded their vehicles. 2. Within minutes of sentencing, Daler Mehndi was granted bail In the proceedings conducted at the Patiala Court in Punjab, the singer was found guilty and was sentenced. However, he was later let off with a fine of Rs 10,000 the same day. 3. In 2003, Daler Mehndi and brother Shamsher Singh were accused of illegally sending abroad people disguised as members of his group by charging hefty ‘passage money’. 4. Daler Mehndi and his brother had in 1998 and 1999 allegedly taken two troupes outside India.Of the people taken to the US, 10 ‘dropped off’ illegally, according to media reports.
5. Once on a trip to the US with Karisma Kapoor and her mother Babita Kapoor, Daler Mehndi illegally dropped off three girls from Gujarat in San Francisco. 6. Again, while on a trip with Bollywood stars Juhi Chawla, Raveena Tandon and Javed Jaffrey in 1999, the Mehndi brothers ‘dropped off’ three boys at New Jersey. 7. After the Patiala court registered a case in 2003, 35 more complaints propped up levelling charges of fraud and human trafficking against the Mehndi brothers. 8. The complainants, including Bakhshish Singh, alleged the Mehndi brothers had taken ‘passage money’ from people to help them migrate to the US illegally, but later duped them of their money. 9. The Patiala police had raided the offices of Daler Mehndi at New Delhi’s Connaught Place and seized documents. This included a case file of those who had paid the brothers money. 10. In 2006, the Patiala police filed two discharge petitions terming Daler Mehndi to be innocent, but the court ruled that the singer should be prosecuted as there was enough evidence against him and would further probe into the matter.
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