NEW DELHI: Punjabi pop singer Malkit Singh on Wednesday said that he was planning to sue private television news channels for linking his name to a human trafficking scam.
The whole controversy kick-started when singer Dolly Singh, who was arrested on Oct 11 along with 28 others on charges of human trafficking and forging documents from the US embassy, told police officials that her husband's name was Malkit Singh.
"I was holidaying in New York with my family to celebrate my birthday that happens to be on Oct 10. But the next day I came to know through some of my friends that I was linked with a human trafficking scam back in India and the arrested lady was shown as my wife on some television news channels," Malkit Singh said here.
"The television news channels didn't even bother to check the same with me but went on tarnishing my hard earned reputation. They ruined my 22 years of clean image in just a few minutes," Singh said.
He added that till now none of the news channels has shown the correct version of the story or apologized for the mistake. "I am planning to file a defamation suit against them," he said.
Singh, known for peppy numbers like 'Gur nalo ishq meetha' and 'Tootak tootak tootia', has 21 music albums to his name and has performed in 36 countries.
His counsel Sunil K. Mittal said that they would ask for compensation of no less than Rs.10 million from each of the news channels.
"My client has asked me to initiate appropriate legal action against the news channels. We will also take up the issue with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Press Council of India," Mittal added.
