The Supreme Court on Monday asked Punjabi pop singer Daler Mehndi to surrender to the police, while postponing the hearing of his anticipatory bail petition to Friday.
Mehndi has been accused of human trafficking.
A two-judge bench of the court comprising Justice Doraiswamy Raju and Justice Arijit Pasayat heard the bail plea of the singer.
Justice Doraiswamy Raju said, "This gentleman has taken the courts for a ride." Justice Pasayat observed that though the Delhi high court had given Mehndi ten days to surrender he failed to do so.
He further said that certain people think they are a law unto themselves. In response to Mehndi's petition pleading for the case to be transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation, the court said the pop singer should approach the high court.
"In many cases I direct the police to arrest the accused. Why this should not happen in this case as well?" Justice Pasayat said.
In the absence of Kapil Sibal, a Congress member in the Rajya Sabha, D K Garg argued on behalf of Mehndi.
Talking to rediff.com Garg admitted the court had passed strictures against his client, but refused to elaborate them. "This is between the court and the advocate and not for the media," Garg said.
Daler in his petition had alleged that a senior police officer of the Punjab Police had demanded Rs 1.5 crore to bail him out in the case.
