Authorities extend Rahat investigation to five cities

Lily

B.R
Staff member
New Delhi: Indian authorities have expanded their probe against Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan in five cities where he preformed during his current India visit.

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, which detained Rahat and his two managers Maroof and Chitresh Shirivastava from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport on Sunday evening for carrying $124,000 violating laws of the land, are now probing how the singer got the money he was carrying.

The probe has been extended to Rajkot, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Delhi where Rahat, 37, performed at live concerts. He was released from detention on Monday after questioning that lasted for 28 hours. The singer was slated to appear before DRI for further questioning yesterday.

Rahat went to the DRI office along with his lawyer on Tuesday evening apparently to hand over contract documents to prove his point that he had earned the money recovered from his possession legally.

Tip off

DRI detained him on specific tip off passed on by the Rajkot Police that he was carrying large sum of foreign currency in cash with him. Rajkot Police came to know of it during friendly chat with members of Rahat's troupe while he performed in the Gujarat city. DRI wants to know from Rahat how much money he charged for each of his shows and how and where he converted the Indian currency into US dollars, including if the singer was anyway connected with the money laundering racket.

Apparently Rahat does not have receipts to prove that he converted his earnings in Indian currency legally through bank or authorised money exchange which issue receipts. One gets more value for the money if converted through illegal sources.

According to DRI officials, Rahat took the stand that being a school dropout, he was not conversant with legal formalities, and did not know that a foreign national is supposed to declare cash in excess of $10,000.

 
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