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Rahat appears before DRI, hands over contract details

February 17, 2011 12:44 IST

Noted Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, who was released from detention on Monday, visited the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence on Thursday along with his two aides Maroof and Chitresh Shirivastava.

The singer was detained at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International airport on Sunday by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence officials after he and two of his troupe members were caught allegedly carrying $1.24 lakh (about Rs 60 lakh) in undeclared foreign currency.

The DRI quizzed the famous Pakistani singer for about 28 hours for carrying a huge amount of undeclared foreign currency before he 'had to be relased'.

On Thursday, the singer handed over contract details for his show in India to DRI sleuths.

DRI officials acted on a tip-off and detained Khan when he was clearing customs. They found US $24,000 in Khan's hand baggage and $25,000 each on two of his troupe members.

Another $50,000 was recovered from his checked in luggage. In addition, Khan also had some Pakistani currency. Legally, Khan is allowed to carry US $10,000 -- in cash, bank drafts and traveler's cheques without declaring.

Rahat had reportedly told his interrogators that Event Manager Chitresh had allegedly handed over money to him at the airport before he was to board the Emirates Delhi-Lahore-Dubai flight.

Chitresh now has to explain how the currency conversion was done and give the name of the agency used for carrying out the exchange. The DRI officials claim that the currency conversion of money was not done through any bank.

Onkar Singh in New Delhi