M A I N   N E W S

16 fresh complaints against Daler
Tribune News Service

Patiala, October 7
A day after Punjabi pop star Daler Mehndi pleaded his innocence in the alleged human trafficking case registered by the Patiala police in which his brother has been arrested, the local police claimed that it had received as many as 16 fresh complaints against the pop star, accusing him of having taken money from them in order to take them abroad as members of his troupe.

Patiala Senior Superintendent of Police said a police team was being sent to Delhi to carry out further investigations and that Daler would be asked to join investigations, if needed. He said a police team had gone to Delhi in this regard yesterday also, but was not able to make much headway. He said the police party going to Delhi would be accompanied by Daler’s brother Shamsher Mehndi whose police remand was extended till October 11 by a local court. The SSP claimed that Daler was not likely to be arrested at this stage but said the police had filed an application in a local court to prevent Daler from going abroad.

The local police has also claimed that one of the complainants, Jaswinder Singh, who belongs to Preet Nagar in the city, had claimed that he had give Rs 6 lakh to Daler’s wife Ranjit Kaur alias Kamaljit Kaur, and Shamsher’s wife Baljit Kaur when they had come to attend a wedding in the city recently.

The complainants, who belong to Patiala and Moga districts and a few places in Haryana, have also claimed that Daler Mehndi was the kingpin of the entire human trafficking racket. They said agents collected money initially from the clients following which the major payment was taken after they talked to Daler. One of the complainants has also claimed that he had met the pop star at his Greater Kailash residence and also negotiated the final sum of money which was to be paid to the pop star to ensure that his entire family could go abroad.

The Patiala police has also claimed that all visa applications of the persons who had given money to the pop star were on the letter pad of Daler Mehndi and that the pop star used to sign the applications. It said pamphlets were also made showing persons in dancing poses along with Daler so that the embassy authorities could be convinced of the genuineness of those who had applied for visas as members of Daler’s troupe.

Meanwhile, the SSP also rubbished the pop singer’s claim that a Patiala police officer had asked for Rs 1.50 crore from him. He said in case the pop singer did not apologise for the allegations levelled against him immediately, he would file a defamation suit against him. He said he would file a suit for damages of Rs 3 crore against the pop singer.

The police has also released a list of persons who have filed complaints against the pop star allegedly after they came to know that a case had been registered against his brother and that Daler had also been named in the FIR. The complainants are Karnail Singh and Sarabjit Singh of Kartarpur village in Patiala, Jagdish Singh of Fatehpur (Patiala), Malkit Singh of Balbehra, Jaswinder Singh and Harcharan Singh, both of Patiala, Yadwinder Singh of Majidpur village in Kurukshetra, Rajwant Singh of Dharamkot (Moga), Kashmira Singh of Rajpura, Barjinder Singh of Fatehabad (Haryana), Gurmeet Kaur of Jind (Haryana) and Nirbhai Singh, who was a Personal Assistant of a Punjab Inspector-General of Police, who had complained on behalf of his relatives, besides a few others.