Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan denies reports of arrest in Dubai

Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan has denied reports of his arrest in Dubai, asking his followers not to believe such news. His clarification came after Pakistani media reported that he was arrested in Dubai after a defamation complaint by his former manager.

Reports, which appeared on Monday, said the singer was detained at the immigration centre and taken into police custody for questioning. He was in Dubai for a musical collaboration. Rahat's former manager Ahmed had submitted complaints against him to the Dubai authorities, GeoTV reported, citing people in the singer's management company.

Rahat dismissed Ahmed a few months ago following a dispute and the duo filed cases against each other.

GeoTV reported that defamation via social media is a serious offence in Dubai. In 2019, a court in Dubai reportedly sentenced an individual to a fine of AED250,000 and six months in prison after being convicted of defamation and abuse through social media. The convict had posted offensive comments and altered images of another person.

Earlier this year, Khan found himself at the centre of a controversy after a video of him allegedly slapping a person went viral on social media. In the purported video, Khan was seen repeatedly hitting and slapping the man, whom he later identified as his protege Naveed Hasnain, with a slipper asking "Where is my bottle?"

The singer, known for hit Hindi movie songs such as "Mann ki Lagan" and "Jiya Dhadak Dhadak", later shared a series of videos on Instagram as a clarification. He termed the viral video an "internal matter" between a master and his disciple.

"Whatever you have seen in these videos is about an internal matter between an ustaad (master) and a shagird (protege). When a protege does a good job, we shower a lot of them and when they make a mistake, we punish them as well...I had apologised to him at the same time..." the popular singer said.