Rahat Fateh Ali Khan heads home from India

The singer will fly home from India today after paying a fine of $33,216 for carrying undeclared foreign currency out of the country.

NEW DELHI: Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan will fly home from India on Monday after paying a fine of $33,216 for carrying large quantities of cash out of the country, an embassy official said.

Khan, 37, was charged at the weekend with carrying undeclared foreign currency in violation of India’s Foreign Exchange Management Act and customs rules.

He is rated as one of the top singers in Bollywood, India’s prolific Hindi-language film industry.

The musician, a nephew of late Pakistani legend Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and his group were boarding a plane to Lahore via Dubai on February 13 when authorities found $124,000 in cash in their bags.

“He has paid the fine and he will be taking the first flight to Pakistan,” an official at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi told AFP, asking not to be named.

Under Indian customs rules, visitors are allowed to carry only $5,000 in cash in and out of the country.

The Pakistani foreign ministry had intervened on Khan’s behalf and offered him the support of the High Commission.