Singer Daler Mehndi has been convicted of human trafficking in a 2003 case by a Patiala court. He has been sentenced to two years in jail, but was reportedly granted bail.
The singer and his brother, Shamsher Singh, reportedly illegally “dropped off” people during their international tours in exchange for a fee.
According to News18, Daler and Shamsher had taken two troupes - in 1998 and 1999 - and “dropped off” 10 people illegally at the time.
He had allegedly “dropped off” three young women in San Francisco during one tour. In another tour in 1999, he is accused of illegally migrating three boys.
They allegedly disguised the members they were “dropping off” as members of the troupe.
In 2003, a man named Bakshish Singh filed a complaint against Daler Mehndi and Shamsher Singh. Soon, there were reportedly 35 other complaints of fraud that came up against the brothers, the News18 report added.
Bakshish filed the complaint after allegedly being duped by the brothers. He reportedly paid lakhs of rupees to the brothers to be sent abroad. Bakshish alleged that the deal never matured and the accused failed to return the money.
The police had registered a case against Daler and 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.
The case was registered in 2003 in Patiala. Daler was subsequently arrested and released on bail after a few days.
In 2006, the Patiala police reportedly filed two discharge petitions in the Patiala court, which were rejected. The court upheld that there was enough evidence to prosecute them.
There was “sufficient evidence against him on the judicial file and scope for further investigation,” the court said.
Shamsher, who was also part of the troupe, reportedly died in October 2017 after suffering from jaundice.