Islamabad/New Delhi:
The detention of Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan at the Delhi airport has Islamabad worried.
Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik has stepped in personally to look into the singer's detention over undeclared foreign currency.
Malik spoke to Pakistan's High Commissioner to India, Shahid Malik, on Sunday and asked him to monitor the matter closely.
The minister also asked for details about Rahat's detention at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.
Sources in the government, meanwhile, claim that the law will take its own course in the matter. They further added that rules on declaration of foreign currency was not limited to India.
The singer has been taken to the office of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) for questioning. Pakistani officials have also arrived at the location and are trying to meet the singer.
Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was held at the Delhi airport on Sunday night for illegally carrying undeclared currency worth US $ 1.24 lakh. He was flying out to Dubai when he was intercepted by personnel from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).His manager Chitresh Srivastava was also detained.
The foreign currency was not declared to Customs officials after the immigration checks, a DRI official said.
"The DRI officers found altogether US $1, 24,000 which is equivalent to about Rs. 60 lakhs. US $24,000 were found from the baggage carried by Rahat while the remaining US $50,000 each were found from the baggage of two troupe members," Central Board of Excise and Customs Chairman S Dutt Majumdar said.
The recovered foreign currency included US $10,000 and US $8,600 in demand drafts and some Travellers Cheques, a DRI official said.
The singer will be produced in court today.
This is not the first time Rahat has found himself on the wrong side of law in India. In July last year, organisers of a concert in Gurgaon filed a police complaint against him for not turning up for a show.
The 37-year-old singer, is the nephew of legendary Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. He has crooned several Bollywood chart-busters, including the song 'Dil To Bachcha Hai Ji' from the movie 'Ishqiya' for which he won the Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer this year.