MID-DAY (March 17, 2018)

Noted singer Daler Mehndi was sentenced to two years of imprisonment on Friday in connection with a 2003 human trafficking case. He, however, was granted bail and said he would appeal to a higher court. “It has been 14 years since a case was lodged against my brother, who passed away last year. As of now, I have been granted bail, but we will appeal to a higher court,” he stated.

Earlier in the day, the Patiala Court sentenced Mehndi after he was found guilty. He was later let off with a fine of Rs 10,000. It had been alleged that Mehndi, his brother Shamsher, and others had duped several people of a hefty sum — to the tune of Rs 1 crore — with the promise of relocating them to the USA. The Mehndi brothers allegedly took people to the USA as troupe members, but “dropped them off” illegally.

In 2003, Bakshish Singh of Punjab’s Balbehra village lodged a complaint against them. In 2006, the Patiala Police had filed two discharge petitions stating Mehndi to be innocent, but the court set aside the petitions maintaining the singer was to be prosecuted.