Daler Mehndi fails to appear in court, case fixed for Dec 15

Patiala, Dec 5 (UNI) Noted Punjabi pop singer Daler Mehndi failed to appear in a court here today in connection with a human trafficking case.

The court, however, exempted him from personal appearance on a request from defence counsel, and adjourned the case to December 15 following certain objections raised by him. The court ordered Daler Mehndi to appear on next hearing.

Daler Mehndi's counsel while moving a personal exemption petition before the court said his client could not arrive as he was not medically fit to travel.

Patiala police had registered a case under sections 406, 420, 465, 466, 468, 471, 471-A and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Indian Passport Act on September 19, 2003 at the Sadar police station here on the complaint of Bakhshish Singh of village Balbehra.

In his complaint, Bakhshish Singh along with another 24 others had blamed Daler Mehndi and his brother Shamsher Mehndi for allegedly taking money with a promise to take them abroad posing as members of his troupe during foreign trips and leave them there. But he failed to fulfill his promise and even the money was not returned to them, instead they were threatened to keep quiet, the complaints alleged.

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