M A I N   N E W S

Non-bailable warrants against wives of Daler and Shamsher
Tribune News Service

Patiala, October 15
Punjabi pop star Daler Mehndi’s brother Shamsher today said that the two used to work together and that he was greatly pained on being disowned by his brother after he was arrested on charges of duping people wanting to immigrate to foreign countries illegally.

Talking to TNS after being presented before a Duty Magistrate here, Shamsher said the public utterances of Daler had caused him great pain as he had never been estranged from his brother and used to work together with him. Shamsher, however, refused to comment on whether he would become an approver in the case.

Meanwhile non-bailable warrants have been issued against the wives of Daler and Shamsher besides three others even as the police remand of Shamsher was extended by one day and Patiala police personnel seized a computer from the office of a cultural troupe promoter in Mumbai today.

Others against whom non-bailable warrants have been issued are Shamsher’s wife Balwinder Kaur, Tejinder Singh Laddi, Surinder Singh and Dhian Singh, alias Harchand Singh.

Meanwhile the Patiala Police made newsmen wait for hours in the Judicial Complex today as they did not present Shamsher Mehndi in court during the working hours. Shamsher was later presented before a Duty Magistrate in the evening. The prosecution claimed that it wanted to take Shamsher to Chattisgarh to make some recoveries for which it wanted the police remand to be extended by a few days.

Shamsher’s advocate N.P.S. Waraich said there was no need for a further police remand as the accused had been remanded in police custody thrice and had already spent 10 days in police custody. The lawyer said when the prosecution requested for an extension of Shamsher’s police remand last time it had claimed that it wanted to take him to Mumbai to make some recoveries, but this was not done.

Meanwhile the hearing into the anticipatory bail applications filed by Daljit Kaur and Balwinder Kaur, wives of Daler and Shamsher, has been adjourned to October 18.

According to police sources, a police team from Patiala had raided the Arena apartments of Rakesh Kaushal, alias Rocky who is said to be a promoter of cultural troupes. The sources said Rocky was not present at the house and that the police broke a few locks to search his apartment. They said a computer had been seized from the premises which would be looked into soon. The police also searched the apartment of another “suspect” identified as Ali though it was not known if any recoveries had been made in this case.

Meanwhile a Supreme Court advocate also arrived in the district court here to “protect the interests’’ of Daler’s younger brother Mika. 

Police raids Daler’s Mumbai house
Our Correspondent

Mumbai, October 15
A Patiala police team headed by Superintendent of Police Bhupinder Singh Virk assisted by personnel from the Mumbai police today raided a flat rented by pop star Daler Mehndi.

The police seized a number of video CDs, a computer and photo albums.

Police sources said the team sealed off the flat at Arena Building in the posh Lokhandwala in north-west Mumbai and searches were continuing at the time of going to the press.

The police believes that two associates of Mehndi, nicknamed Rocky and Sunny, are in Mumbai. However, attempts to trace them have so far drawn a blank.

The police here says Mehndi or his associates had rented the premises through a local broker. The pop star is under investigation for allegedly indulging in a racket that facilitated people to illegally migrate to Western countries.

Top film stars from Mumbai who had accompanied Mehndi on some of his shows may also be interrogated by the visiting police team, sources said here.

The police says film stars Karishma Kapoor, Raveena Tandon and others were part of a show organised by Mehndi in the USA last year. At least five members of the team accompanying Mehndi and the others on that trip illegally stayed back, the police says.