Video: Rahat Fateh Ali Khan assaults his 'student', apologises later

New Delhi

A video of Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, the Pakistani Sufi and classical singer with tremendous fan-following in the Indian subcontinent and the world, has emerged on various social media platforms purportedly showing him beating another man using his footwear. The clip has gone insanely viral.

In the video, not fully clear, one can see the singer beating a man and at one point also dragging him down to the floor before resuming the attack. The man being beaten shows no resistance.

Words like "Kahaan hai meri bottle?" (Hindi for "Where is my bottle?) can be heard being said in the video. Towards the end, Khan asks the man he was beating to leave the room and bring back the bottle.

WION can, however, not independently verify the authenticity of the video.

The video tremendously went viral on X (formerly Twitter) and other social media platforms. Users expressed their anguish and heartbreak over the behaviour of the singer who is not only the nephew of the legendary Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, but someone who has carved his own niche by singing countless heartfelt love songs in Indian movies and beyond.

The ardent but heartbroken fans said they couldn't believe that this was the same man who sang beautiful songs like "Mann ki Lagan", "Afreen Afreen" (Coke Studio version) and many many more.

Just hours after the video went viral, another clip of Rahat Fateh Ali Khan started doing the rounds on social media. In the second video, the singer appears to claim the man whom he assaulted was his student and that he shares a strong equation with him as teacher.

He can also be heard saying that he loves and encourages his students when they do good work but also meet out punishment to them for their mistakes.

So what about the 'bottle'?

The man whom Khan introduced as his student says in the second video that the singer was asking him about the bottle of Holy Water (Peer baba ka paani). Khan says he later apologised to his student. 

Watch the second video here:

Despite his clarification and apology, hashtag RahatFatehAliKhan was trending in India.