Immigration fraud case: Punjab & Haryana HC issues notice to Punjab over Daler Mehndi’s revision petition

On July 14, Mehndi was arrested and sent to jail after a Patiala court dismissed his appeal against a two-year jail term awarded to him in the immigration fraud case. The court of judicial magistrate Nidhi Saini had sentenced Mehndi to two years in jail in March 2018, after holding him guilty under sections 420 (cheating) and 120-B (conspiracy). Mehndi, who had secured bail, had challenged the order in the court of Additional Sessions Judge H S Grewal.

An FIR was registered in the matter on September 19, 2003, at Patiala Sadar police station after the complainant alleged that Mehndi and other accused had cheated him of Rs 13 lakh on the pretext of sending him to Canada.

In the HC, Mehndi, through senior advocate R S Cheema and advocate Arshdeep Singh Cheema, has sought that he be acquitted of the charges in the interest of justice.

The petitioner’s counsel argued that the failure of the trial judge to objectively examine the material on record has resulted in injustice. It is an unfortunate case where due to the voluminous record, the courts below did not minutely examine the evidence.

The petitioner submitted that the trial court has in a mechanical manner relied upon the oral testimony of those prosecution witnesses who seem to have supported the case of the prosecution.