Singer Daler Mehndi and brother Shamsher convicted in Human trafficking case; gets two years imprisonment

Popular Punjabi pop singer Daler Mehndi and brother Shamsher have been convicted by a Patiala court in the 2003 illegal immigration case on Friday. Both the brothers have been sentenced to two years of imprisonment.

The Singer Daler Mehndi and brother Shamsher has been accused of illegally sending people to abroad under the guise of his dancing troupes. The singer used to charge a heavy 'passage money'.

It is alleged that the duo has taken two troupes in 1998 and 1999 during which at least 10 persons were taken to the US as troupe members and were illegally 'dropped off' at New Jersey.

Daler, on a trip to the US in the company of an actress, had allegedly "dropped off" three girls at San Francisco.

In 2003, an illegal immigration case was registered against Daler and brother Shamsher along with some of his associates by the Patiala court following a complaint filed by Bakshish Singh of Punjab's Balbehra village.

Daler was arrested after the case was registered but was released on bail after a few days as there was “sufficient evidence against him on the judicial file and scope for further investigation”.

According to the complainant, he had been duped by the Mehndi brothers who received lakhs of rupees from him on the pretext of sending him abroad as a member of the troupe of Daler Mehndi.

The cops raided the offices of Daler at New Delhi's Connaught Place and seized all the documents, including the case files of those who had paid the alleged "passage money" to Mehndi brothers.

Shamsher, the brother of pop singer, Daler Mehndi died in October 2017 after suffering from jaundice. Shamsher used to write songs for Daler and was a recording producer. He had also performed along with Daler in several stage shows.

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