Sixteen Indian nationals, including a singer said to be the “Elvis Presley of India”, were arrested by Bureau of Immigration (BI) agents Thursday for staging a concert without a work permit.
BI spokesperson Maan Pedro said the 16, headed by Tejinder Singh, the concert’s lead vocalist and known as India’s version of the rock and roll singer Elvis Presley, were arrested after they staged a revenue-generating concert at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City without the necessary papers.
There were speculations that the earnings from the concert would go to the victims of Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”
But Pedro said they did not find any evidence supporting this information.
The tickets sold during the concert also did not indicate that the proceeds would be given to the typhoon victims.
The BI would have relaxed the immigration rules for Indian visitors had they declared upon their arrival or before the concert that they would stage a benefit concert, Pedro said.
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The bureau has done so for those who have come to the country to extend assistance to the victims, she added.
“It was only after we interviewed them when reports circulated about the possibility that proceeds from the concert would go to the typhoon victims,” Pedro said.
The Indian nationals, who arrived in the country on Dec. 3, were arrested after the concert.
They are now being held at the BI Detention Center in Taguig City while awaiting deportation proceedings.