Tribune News Service Patiala, November 3
The Patiala police today arrested a Punjabi pop singer Sukhwinder Singh Mann popularly known as Sukha in a case of alleged human trafficking when he came to collect money in the city.
Addressing a Press conference here Paramraj Singh Umranangal, district police chief, said Sukha, who belongs to Jalandhar, was arrested today when he came to the city to collect money from a family whose two sons he had promised to take abroad as members of his troupe.
The SSP said Sukha’s name had cropped up during investigations being conducted against people who were accused of human trafficking after complaints received in this regard were scanned recently. The SSP said as many as 103 complaints against travel agents had also been scanned by the police recently. He said a complaint was lodged against Sukha in March, 2002, and a case was registered against him in March, 2003.
The SSP said the complainant in the case was Balbir Singh of Noorkherian village near here. He said the complainant had alleged that he had come in contact with Sukha when he answered an advertisement soliciting two brothers for the purpose of marriage with two sisters settled abroad. The SSP said Sukha, his wife, and his brother-in-law, Paramjit, contacted the family and told them that the girls had just gone abroad and that they were yet to become US citizens.
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Noorkherian-based family was told that they would have to send their boys abroad on their own and when they said they did not know anyone who could facilitate this, Sukha said he would take both boys abroad as members of his troupe. The SSP alleged that the singer demanded Rs 8 lakh immediately and a similar amount when the boys reached the USA. The family was told that the family of the girls would give Rs 8 lakh back to them in due course and that they would only be burdened with an expenditure of Rs 8 lakh eventually.
Mr Umranangal said both boys were called to Jalandhar and that a video cassette featuring them with the singer was also recorded to prove that they were members of his troupe. He said following this when the family contacted Sukha after some time, they were told that Sukha had had his visa rejected and that the money given by them would be returned. The SSP said the complaints claimed Sukha did give them a cheque for Rs 1.5 lakh but this too bounced.
He said Sukha would be presented before the court tomorrow.
