14 February,2011 07:27 AM IST | | Ketan Ranga
Pakistani signer was detained at Delhi airport for carrying undeclared foreign currency totalling $1.24 lakh
Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, who was detained late last night for non-disclosure of foreign currency totalling $1.24 lakh in Delhi, may be arrested under the Foreign Exchange Management Act.
The singer of Tere mast mast do nain was about to take an Emirates flight to Dubai when he was detained
But the officials are maintaining a studied silence on the issue as it has already become an international matter with the Pakistan government keenly following the case.
The singer has been detained along with two men from his 16-member troupe. One of them is an event manager.
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Khan and his troupe members had returned from Karachi after a function and were about to leave for Dubai, when the trio were intercepted by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and detained.
After hours of interrogation, the trio were taken to the Revenue Intelligence Officer late in the night.
"He was carrying a huge amount of foreign currency which he had not declared to the immigration authorities," sources at the Delhi airport said.
The 37-year-old, nephew of Pakistani singing legend Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, was involved in a controversy in July last year, too, when organisers of a concert in Gurgaon had filed a police complaint against him for failing to turn up for a show.
Khan has several hit numbers to his credit and has won the Filmfare Award for best male playback singer this year for Dil To Bachcha Hai Ji from the movie Ishqiya.
Pak reacts
The detention of Rahat Fateh Ali Khan spread like wildfire in Pakistan and was the lead story in almost all Pakistani TV channels in their prime time bulletins.
Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik yesterday directed the country's envoy in India to extend consular support to the singer.
Malik heard a detailed briefing on the matter from Pakistani High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik.
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"He (the PM) directed Shahid Malik to keep a tab on the issue and provide legal and consular support to Rahat," state-run Pakistan Television reported.
The envoy assured the minister that he and his staff would "undertake all efforts to facilitate Rahat's release", the channel said.
Rahat's brother-in-law, Asim Raza said to a Pakistani channel, "We are yet to establish any proper contact with the authorities in India although Rahat talked briefly with his wife and asked her to remain hopeful."
