By Abul Taher, security correspondent for The Mail On Sunday
21:52, 27 January 2024, updated at 01:01, 28 January 2024
- Pakistani folk singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was filmed assaulting a backing vocalist
- He is an ambassador for the British Asian Trust, which deals with domestic violence
A global music star who is an ambassador for an anti-violence charity founded by King Charles has been filmed punching and assaulting a member of the band.
Shocking footage shows Pakistani folk singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan – an ambassador for the King’s UK-Asia Trust dealing with domestic violence – assaulting a backing singer on a US tour.
Khan, 49, who has eight million followers on social media, pelted the man with a slipper and dragged him by the hair during the brutal attack at a hotel in Houston, Texas, last year. Last night he admitted the assault, saying: “He was my student and I hit him. He doesn’t mind.
The video, sent to The Mail on Sunday, will shock the Indian subcontinent and the British Asian community and embarrass the British Asian Trust, which helps victims of domestic violence and runs mental health initiatives in India and Pakistan.
Khan has played to packed houses in the UK and around the world. At a sold-out show at Wembley, he was joined on stage by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, who called him “brother”.
Khan met the king several times as ambassador of the British-Asiatic Trust. It was founded by Charles in 2007 to tackle poverty and build community connections. Kahn’s vocals were used in Mel Gibson’s 2007 film Apocalypto, and he contributed to the soundtrack of the 1995 film Dead Man Walking. He made his Hollywood acting debut in What’s Love Got To Do With It?, starring Lily James, in 2022. The film was directed by his girlfriend Jemima Khan, ex-wife of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Last week, three videos of Khan hitting his bandmate were sent to this newspaper. In one 22-second clip, a casually dressed Khan can be seen arguing with the man in a green T-shirt, shouting at him: ‘Where’s my bottle? I will hit you. Have you seen my bottle?
The 32-year-old man, who has not been named, appeared frightened. A longer 36-second clip showed the man crouching as Khan hit him with what appeared to be a slipper. He then punches the man in the face and head and yells, “Where’s my bottle?”
The victim meekly replies, “I didn’t have it, sir. Which bottle?
Members of Khan’s entourage stand and watch. However, the third video shows three bandmates trying to pull Khan off as the men grapple to the floor.
A source familiar with the incident said the argument may have been over a bottle of alcohol.
But Khan denied this last night and said his bandmate had lost a bottle of “spiritual water” given to him by a holy man. He said: “He was my student and I hit him. He lost my special water bottle, he was responsible for it, he accepted it.
“And he doesn’t mind me beating him.” No one minds if I punish my student for losing my spiritual water bottle. He even asked for my forgiveness. In Pakistan, the British Asian Trust says it has trained 160 teachers to detect mental health problems in students.
Khan is considered the greatest living singer of a musical genre known in Pakistan called Qawwali, which has its origins in the poetry and music of Islamic mystics known as Sufis.
The British Asian Trust said: “We take all allegations of abuse seriously and will look into this as a matter of urgency.”
