New Delhi

Singer-songwriter and convicted sex trafficker and racketeer R Kelly is now being tried on the charges of child pornography and obstruction of justice in Chicago. A  Brooklyn federal court trial last year resulted in a 30-year sentence for Kelly. He is currently lodged at Metropolitan Correctional Center, Chicago. He has pleaded not guilty to charges and challenged his sentencing.

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Now, in a fresh trial that started on Wednesday, prosecutors said Kelly, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, has a "dark" and "hidden" side that the general public rarely saw, media reports said.

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One woman, who is called Jane to protect her identity, will testify before the jury about an alleged sex tape that was shot when she was either 13 or 14 and R Kelly was 31. The tape was also the basis of the original 2008 trial but both Jane and Kelly denied that it was them in the tape, and thus Kelly went scot-free.

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In 2008, the R&B artist was also similarly accused of rigging the trial by bribing the witnesses with money and gifts or intimidating and threatening them.

Born on January 8, 1967 on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, R. Kelly has faced sexual abuse charges since the 1990s. His first marriage was illegal as it was with an underage girl -- singer and actor Aaliyah. While Aaliyah was just 15, Kelly was 27.

Since then, the spectre of numerous sexual abuse allegations, including those related to underage girls, has hovered over him. A Lifetime documentary series 'Surviving R. Kelly' detailed serious allegations against the singer. The series received critical acclaim. Not long after, he was finally charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse in 2019, and that led to his conviction.