New Delhi:
Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan has been charged under Customs Act for carrying undeclared foreign currency. His manager Maroof also faces similar charges.
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) will now confiscate the currency and the matter has been sent to Commissioner Customs (Airports) for adjudication.
The Commissioner will go through the charges and determine the penalty and the quantum. Rahat and Mahroof can leave the country after paying the penalty.
The singer, along with his manager and owner of an event management company Chitresh Shrivastava, has faced several rounds of questioning by the DRI officials, the latest being on Friday when they were questioned for 11 hours in New Delhi. Chitresh is the elder brother of renowned Bollywood music director Aadesh Shrivastava.
Rahat was also quizzed by DRI officials for 10 hours on Thursday.
The DRI officials had also conducted a raid at Mumbai-based 'Cosmos Bon Voyage and Forex Private Limited' at suburban Lokhandwala Complex after the questioning on Friday.
Rahat and his 16-member troupe had been detained for allegedly carrying US $1.24 lakh (about Rs. 60 lakh) of undeclared foreign currency at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport on February 13.
As per norms, no one can carry beyond US $ 5,000 in cash and US $ 5,000 in other instruments. A person has to declare the amount if he is carrying more than this to the Customs Department.
Rahat is rated as one of the top playback singers of the Hindi film industry and has several hit numbers to his credit.
He won the Filmfare Award for the Best Male Playback Singer this year for 'Dil To Bachcha Hai Ji' from the movie 'Ishqiya' and his first Bollywood hit was 'Laagi Tumse Mann Ki Lagan' from the film 'Paap'.