Rahat Fateh Ali Khan released
Subhash K Jha and Lakshmi Iyer, Feb 15, 2011, 11.11am IST
It's finally over. On Sunday evening, hours after Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was detained at Delhi airport for carrying a large amount of unaccounted money, IT officials paid a visit to his Indian business manager Chitresh Shrivastava, Bollywood composer Aadesh Shrivastava's brother.
Chitresh's office, his home and his close relatives' homes were raided and $200,000 were recovered. The singer and his manager have now been released. It was learnt that Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir called Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad Sharat Sabarwal and discussed the matter on Sunday.
The Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi set up a special team to liaise with the Department of Revenue Intelligence, which had detained Rahat. The Home Secretaries of India and Pakistan had also planned to meet next month.
But there was light at the end of the tunnel for Rahat. This however does not resolve the question why was so much money lying around at Rahat's manager's home? Says a source from the music industry, "Chitresh dada works only for Rahat saab. Obviously, such a huge amount of cash in American currency would be credited only to Rahat saab's earnings."
Bollywood's composers have been cashing in on Rahat's songs like Jiya dhadak dhadak (Kalyug), Teri ore (Singh Is Kinng), Aaj din chadiya (Love Aaj Kal), Sureeli ankhiyon wali (Veer), Tere mast mast do nain (Dabangg) and Dil to bachcha hai ji (Ishqiya).
As for commenting on the matter, a musician, on condition of anonymity, said, "For all his talent Rahat doesn't understand that tax needs to be paid over what you earn. In Pakistan no entertainer pays taxes."
Talking about Rahat, Pritam Chakaborty said, "He is a decent man, uncorrupted. I noticed that he always took his payments in cash. That's a very dangerous thing to do. As far as I know, Rahat has no bank account in India.
The money he earned in recordings went straight into his pocket." Sajid-Wajid, for whom Rahat sang Mast mast do nain, are willing to support any move for Rahat's quick release."
Meanwhile, Pakistan High Commission officials, who were denied access to the Department of Revenue Intelligence, wrote to the Ministry of External Affairs, seeking consular access to Rahat. "This is no way to treat an artist.
Rahat is an icon in Pakistan. If he was carrying excess cash it should have been confiscated. The artist should be allowed to go," said G. Parthasarthy, former Indian High Commissioner to Islamabad. The efforts have finally borne fruit.
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