Today, on July 14, Punjabi music sensation Daler Mehndi will be arrested by police after a court in Punjab’s Patiala sentenced him to two years of imprisonment in a human trafficking case.
Additionally, it has been stated that Daler Mehndi and his brother Shamsher Singh were charged with illegally shipping individuals abroad while they were impersonating members of his troupe and charging them a significant "passage fee."
The police had previously filed two petitions with the court arguing that Daler was not necessary in the case as he had nothing to do with the immigration fraud known as "kabootarbaazi" (literally, "flying pigeons"), which referred to several Punjabi youths attempting to immigrate overseas illegally.
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Daler is said to have "dropped off" three females in San Francisco when travelling to the US with Karisma Kapoor and Karisma's mother Babita. The three girls, all from Gujarat, had been named as Priya, Meenu Behn, and Nimu.
In October 1999, the brothers travelled to the US with a different group, this time joined by Juhi Chawla, Raveena Tandon, and Javed Jaffri. Three boys were "dropped off" in New Jersey on this trip.
Meanwhile, as per the FIR registered in 2003 at Sadar police station, it was alleged that Mehndi brothers had taken two companies in 1998 and 1999, during the course of which 10 people were taken to the US as group members and were “dropped off” illegally.