Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was today questioned for close to 10 hours by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) here in connection with an alleged forex violations case against him
New Delhi: Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was today questioned for close to 10 hours by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) here in connection with an alleged forex violations case against him.
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Officials said the Sufi singer presented himself before the authorities in the Delhi zonal office of the agency a little after 10 AM and he left before 9 PM.
Dressed in grey-coloured coat and dark pant, the popular singer arrived in a black Mercedes and was accompanied by a team of his lawyers, who kept waiting outside the ED office during the entire questioning period.
Investigators said that he "satisfactorily" replied to all the questions and helped them with detailed replies about the transactions under scanner.
Apart from providing investigators the documents of the case, Khan also recorded his version about the incident under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). The singer had been summoned for a "personal appearance" and questioning by the agency since last year and he deposed before them finally today.
The case pertains to the probe agency initiating a FEMA investigation against him and his associates in 2014 after the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), in 2011, intercepted Khan and his manager, Marrouf Ali Khan, at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here for allegedly carrying an undeclared amount of USD 1.24 lakh and some other instruments in foreign currency.
The ED, which is the central agency to probe such forex contraventions under the FEMA, took over the case after this episode.
The ED had initiated the step after working on the case for over-an-year and after obtaining records of the said cash from RBI.
The Pakistani singer had deputed a team of lawyers to interact with the agency here but the investigation, sources said, required Khan's personal appearance.
Khan, during his earlier statements on the subject, had said he had done nothing wrong and they were carrying the large amount of cash because they were travelling in a group and the act was inadvertent.
The singer's lawyers had earlier submitted the details, to the ED, of the shows and events to show the said amount was accumulated by him in 2011.
The Sufi singer had won the Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer in 2011 for the song 'Dil To Bachcha Hai Ji' from the movie 'Ishqiya' and many of his renditions are popular chartbusters in Hindi movies and also in Pakistan.
His songs recently featured in Hindi movie 'Hamari Adhuri Kahani'.
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