A Patiala court on Thursday sentenced Punjabi singer Daler Mehndi to two years in prison in connection with a human trafficking case from 2003.
A district court in Patiala upheld a trial court’s 2018 decision in a 19-year-old trafficking case where Mehndi and his brother were charged with using his dance crew to send people abroad illegally. The singer’s quick arrest was praised by Judge HS Grewal of the Patiala Additional Sessions.
The Mehndi brothers are accused of taking two troupes to the US in 1998 and 1999, including 10 people for illegal immigration, according to the report. The first case was brought in September 2003 at the Patiala Sadar police station by a man by the name of Bakshish Singh.
“They took ₹ 13 lakh from me to send me to Canada,” Bakshish Singh told ANI today. “Neither did they send me abroad, nor did they return my money. At that time they used to do this work of sending people abroad.”
The singer was charged with violating sections 406, 420, 120B, 465, 468, and 471 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Indian Passport Act in 2013 after an FIR was filed at the Sardar Patiala police station.
A judge found both of the brothers guilty in 2018 and gave them a two-year prison term. However, shortly after the conviction, bail was granted. Subsequently, they appealed to the Sessions Court.
According to additional reports, Daler may now file an appeal with the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
