By Mata Press Service and India Abroad News Service

A court in Patiala, Punjab has formally charged famous Bhangra-pop singer Daler Mehndi and his brother with conspiracy to smuggle Indian nationals into Canada.

Daler and his brother Shamsher have also been charged with forgery and cheating in the human trafficking case.

The duo is alleged to be part of a cabal of popular singers and dancers in Punjab who have been accused of taking youths illegally with them to western countries as part of their troupes.

Many Punjabi youth have also been smuggled abroad by posing as religious preachers and Sikh hymn singers.

The first allegations against the Mehndi brothers came to light in 2003 when one Bakhshish Singh, a resident of Belwara, Punjab, alleged he had paid $43,000 to Shamsher out of the total demanded sum of $50,000 to be taken to Canada as part of a concert group.

Police arrested Shamsher near the Punjabi University campus at Patiala when he was on his way to receiving the “final” installment of $6,700 from Bakhshish Singh.

The complainant in court documents alleged that he sought the help of the Mehndi brothers and two others for getting him a visa to go to Canada.

“They demanded Rs 15 lakh to arrange the visa . . . the deal was settled for Rs 12 lakh . . . and Rs 2 lakh were to be paid in advance and Rs 10 lakh after getting the visa,” he said.

“Following this, I talked to Daler Mehndi on the telephone. He informed me that the visa had been arranged and assured me of supplying a photocopy of the same as proof,” the complainant said, adding that he got copies of his travel documents on July 4, 2003.

Bakhshish never got to go to Canada.

That investigation in 2003 was stalled after Punjab police said they wanted to drop the case against Daler Mehndi, who shot to fame with his hit song “Bolo tara ra ra,” in the mid-1990s.

However, Bakshish Singh pursued his case against the Mehndi brothers in court, which led to a judge ordering the police to lay formal charges.

Indian media said the millionaire singer was present when the charges were laid this month and plead not guilty.

The Mehndi scandal also threatens to expose the names of some of Bollywood’s top singers and movie stars.

At least 50 people have reportedly come forward to authorities to say they have been cheated out of tens of thousands of dollars that they had paid for their illegal passage from India to Canada.

Others named as having connections to the scandal include Bollywood starlets Karisma Kapoor and Raveena Tandon.

The names of other prominent Bollywood personalities like Govinda, Suneil Shetty, Pooja Batra and Nirmal Pandey have also cropped up in the investigation.

One of the shows which may have been used to smuggle Indian nationals to Canada was held at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver on April 4, 1999 in conjuction with the 300th anniversary of the Sikh Khalsa movement.

Mehndi, who blends traditional Punjabi sounds with techno and reggae influences, was joined on the stage in Vancouver by Bollywood actress Raveena Tandon for a show which attracted thousands.

Mehndi’s brother Shamsher, in an interview with an Indian paper after his 2003 arrest allegedly said that movie starlets Raveena and Karisma Kapoor would regularly get commissions for sending youth to various countries as a part of the Mehndi entourage.

“Raveena and Karisma were part of a 70-member troupe that went to the US and Canada. Around 5-7 girls were left behind there on the pretext of seeing their families. Raveena and Karisma knew about it and they also got some percentage of the commission.” he was quoted as saying.

Shamsher has allegedly admitted to Indian police that his agents and partners used to take $16,000 to $50,000 from youngsters desperate to emmigrate and divide the money among themselves.

He claimed he only got 10 to 15 per cent of the amount.

Canadian-based Indian music promoters said they don’t believe Daler Mehndi had anything to do with the immigration scams.

The charges against the Mehndi brothers bring to the fore once again the so-called  ‘kabootarbaazi’ (flight of the pigeons) scam – a multi-million dollar immigration racket run by unscrupulous travel agents particularly in the Doaba belt comprising Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Nawanshahr and Kapurthala districts in Punjab.

Last April, an Indian MP, Babubhai Katara was arrested at the Indira Gandhi International Airport as he was boarding an Air India flight to Toronto with a woman, Paramjeet Kaur, and her child, Amarjit Singh, who were posing as his wife and son. They were being taken by him on the diplomatic passports of Katara’s wife and son.

Paramjeet had agreed to pay $75,000 to a travel agent in Jalandhar and had already paid $25,000 for her passage to Toronto.

Her devastated mother, Mohinder Kaur, and other family members in Kapurthala’s Feroze Sanghowal village, are now praying that no action is taken against Paramjeet.

“She is innocent,” he mother said. “We were only trying to unite her with her husband in Toronto. Her husband has been there for four years.”

Jalandhar businessman Rajinder Singh said: “People are ready to shell out any amount to go abroad. The craze is mind-boggling and travel agents make the most of it. Law enforcing agencies don’t take much action despite the widespread network of human trafficking.”