AMRITSAR, July 31 — World-renowned Punjabi singers the Wadali brothers have not recorded a single cassette even 10 years after getting the President’s award while newcomers have earned lakhs of rupees by imitating their music. But the Wadali brothers prefer to stay away from the rat-race despite record companies hankering for their recording.

So the brothers were in for a surprise to find that a reputed musical company T-series had released a cassette of their music without either their consent or agreement. Many copies of the album “Tere Naal Preetan”, have already been sold in Punjab, Chandigarh and other states. The Wadali brothers alleged that T-series had damaged their reputation with release of the cassette as they had just recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with ‘Z musical company’ for the same music.

The Wadali brothers alleged that they had agreed to give their recording to an agent of T-series more than a year ago. But without reaching an agreement or signing an MoU, T-series released the cassette.

The Wadali brothers have lodged a written complaint with Kotwali police in this regard. Though the Amritsar police directed the local commission agent of T-series to withdraw all the cassettes from the market, many copies of the album have already been sold.

Mr Darshan Kumar of T-series visited the ancestral house of the Wadali brothers and promised to return the master copy of the album. However, neither the master copy of the album has been returned nor the police has made any progress in this case and even an FIR has not been lodged so far. Mr Kewal Kumar, SP (City), however, said the matter would be resolved shortly.

This is not the first time that ‘duplicate’ cassettes of Punjabi songs have hit the market. Many cases have already been registered in Bathinda, Amritsar and other districts of the state. However, this is the first case involving artistes of such high stature.

Mr Darshan Kumar, refused to comment on the issue although he has been urging Wadali brothers to withdraw their complaint.