The Hindu : Daler granted interim bail

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Oct 24, 2003

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Daler granted interim bail

By Our Staff Reporter

Daler Mehndi.

NEW DELHI OCT. 23. The Delhi High Court today granted interim anticipatory bail for ten days to the Punjabi pop singer Daler Mehndi in the visa racket case.

Rejecting the Punjab police plea for dismissing the bail application of the pop singer, Justice S.K. Agarwal said that in case of arrest of the accused, he shall be released on bail on his furnishing a bail bond of Rs. 5 lakhs with one surety of like amount.

Mr. Justice Agarwal also directed that Daler shall surrender his passport, shall not leave the country without permision of the court of competent jurisdiction and cooperate with the Punjab police in investigation if and when called.

Justice Agarwal further said that the accused shall appear before a Patiala court on October 27 for seeking regular bail in the case.

The order is exactly what counsel for Daler, R.K. Jain, had argued for; provide protection against arrest of his client for a limited period so that he could visit Patiala in Punjab to take up his case there.

Opposing the bail application, the Additional Advocate-General of Punjab, Atul Anand, had submitted that the State police had received as many as 31 complaints of immigration racket in which the name of the Punjabi pop singer, Daler Mehndi, figured as one of the accused.

The Additional Advocate-General of Punjab, Atul Anand, had made this allegation in response to a submission by R.K. Jain, counsel for the pop singer, that there was no other case registered against Daler except the one in which he had sought interim anticipatory bail from the High Court.

A Delhi court had earlier this month dismissed Daler's plea for the same relief saying that he did not have the powers to hear his application as the case had been lodged in Patiala in Punjab.

The case was registered on September 19, 2003, by the Sadar Police Station of the Patiala city on a complaint by a private person alleging that he had been cheated of Rs. 13 lakhs by Shamsher Singh Mehndi by promising to get a visa for him for Canada.

The complainant further alleged that Shamsher Singh was running a racket of getting visas for desirous people on payment of money for countries like Canada and the United States by showing them as part of music troupes of Daler's and other music groups.

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