Daler Mehndi sentenced to jail in human trafficking case
New Delhi: Punjabi pop singer Daler Mehndi was on Friday convicted in a 2003 human trafficking case by a court in Patiala. He was sentenced to two years in jail and was later granted bail.
“I have been granted bail. We will appeal in higher court,” the singer said.
The Patiala police had booked Daler Mehndi and his brother Shamsher Mehndi — who died last year — on a complaint filed by one Bakshish Singh. Around 35 more complaints, levelling charges of fraud against the brothers, came up later.
The complainants had alleged that the Mehandi brothers had taken ‘passage money’ from them to help them migrate to the US illegally, but failed to do so.
It was also alleged that Mehndi brothers had taken two troupes in 1998 and 1999 during which 10 people were taken to the US as group members and were “dropped off” illegally.
Patiala Police had even raided the offices of Daler Mehndi at Connaught Place in New Delhi and seized documents, including the case file of those who had paid the alleged “passage money” to Mehndi brothers.
In 2006, Patiala Police filed two discharge petitions stating Daler Mehndi to be innocent, but the court had upheld that the singer be prosecuted as there was “sufficient evidence against him on the judicial file and scope for further investigation”.
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Man accused of rape-murder of 5-year-old lynched to death in Bengal; Girl’s body found in pond
Alipurduar: A 40-year-old man accused of raping and murdering a five-year-old girl was allegedly tied to a tree and beaten to death by agitated locals in Alipurduar district located in West Bengal on Friday evening. Later, another man surrendered before the police claiming he was also involved in the crime, and was subsequently arrested.
The girl went missing on Friday evening. When her family began searching for the girl, they learned that she had last been seen with Mona Roy, as reported by the Indian Express.
The police said that the girl’s body was found floating in a local pond. They added that the locals caught Roy and took him to his residence where they allegedly noticed blood on the bed. Enraged by this, they tied Roy to a tree and started assaulting him.
Roy was beaten to death before the local police could reach the spot.
When the police arrived at the scene, angry locals prevented them from moving the two bodies. Eventually, a large team of police personnel was sent to the location. After two hours, they were able to remove the bodies from the area.
The bodies have been sent for a post-mortem examination.
Meanwhile, a man named Bhakta Roy approached the police, claiming that he was involved in the crime and feared for his safety from the angry mob. He was subsequently arrested.
Y. Raghuvanshi, Superintendent of Police, Alipurduar, asserted it is a heinous crime, adding that they have started a detailed investigation in connection to the incident.
