Sartaj sued for ‘stealing lyrics’

The entire controversy broke out in March this year when Judge,who had posted a ghazal of his on the internet,was told by a lady that the lyrics were not his and that Sartaj had sung these verses in a show in Canada claiming to be his own. Following this the poet had demanded a public apology from the singer.

Judge says,“In April when this issue became public I had demanded a public apology from the poet. We sifted through some of the songs sung by the poet and found that he had been singing not only my verses claiming them to be hit but also of other poets like Deepak Jataoi,Gurcharan Rampuri,Utsaad Daman to name a few. On April 18,two persons — Mandeep Garg and Majit Mangat — called me for a meeting Khanna and gave us in writing that Sartaj has apologised and would resolve the entire matter once he comes back to India.”

“Sartaj returned to India in July and did a volte a face. He refused to apologise and we were left with no room for compromise but seek legal advise. In our notice we have asked the singer to sing the Kalam titles Man Gunto Maula once again and mention the name of each of the poet whose lines form a part of this claim. Apart from this we have demanded damages worth Rs 1 crores from him for the harassment that I have had to face and Rs 75 lakh each for the Punjabi Sahit Akademy Ludhiana and Kendriya Lekhari Sabha. This amount will be sued to set up funds for poor poets.”

The poet claims Sartaj has been given 15 days before the case is admitted in the court.

Meanwhile,while the singer himself could not be reached,but Mandeep Garg,who is said to be a close associate of the singer,in a telephonic conversation said, “We would not like to talk about this issue as it is sub judice.”