[3] Early in his career, he worked as a freelance journalist in India covering the aftermath of the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984.
He captured Canadian and international headlines when, defying a ban imposed on foreigners in the state of Punjab, he was arrested and placed in police custody in the city of Amritsar.
[4][5] Upon receiving the news, his parents travelled to Ottawa to lobby Canada's federal government to intervene on his behalf.
The incident received widespread media coverage and was even debated during question period in the House of Commons.
Thanks largely to a concerted diplomatic effort by the Canadian government, Mann was released one week later.