Advertisement
Washington: A horrifying story of human trafficking and cruelty has unfolded in Missouri, USA, where a 20-year-old Indian student has been rescued after months of captivity and abuse. The victim was confined in a basement, deprived of basic amenities like a bathroom and continuously tortured by his cousin and two other men in an incident described as “absolutely inhumane and unconscionable.” The victim, whose name was not disclosed, spent months trapped in three homes in the US state of Missouri.
A young man is taken to America with the promise of studying at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, but instead he finds himself in a nightmare. The culprits were identified as Venkatesh R Sattaru, Shravan Verma Penumetcha and Nikhil Verma Penumtscha, who forced the victim to work for Sattaru’s IT company and do domestic work. Upon arriving at the home, located on a rural highway in St Charles County, the police arrested the accused.
The charges state that for more than seven months, the men locked the student in a basement and forced him to sleep on an unfinished floor without access to a bathroom. He scavenged for scraps in nearby restaurant dumpsters.
The abuse escalated to physical violence, including beatings using electrical wires, PVC pipes and other objects. The victim suffered multiple bone fractures, extensive injuries, and was forced to sleep on concrete floors, with limited access to food and no access to toilets.
The rescue operation was catalyzed by a 911 call from a concerned citizen, underscoring the importance of reporting suspicious activity. The suspects, all of whom have wealth and political connections in India, are currently being held without bond due to the seriousness of their charges. The charges against them include human trafficking, kidnapping and assault.
The victim is safe and being treated at a hospital for multiple bone fractures, as well as lacerations and bruises all over his body, said prosecutor Joe McCulloch.
“It’s absolutely inhumane and unconscionable that one human being could treat another human being like this,” said McCulloch at a news conference Thursday.
According to the official website of St. Charles County, the three defendants are accused of confining and abusing the victim at three separate homes owned by Sattaru in Defiance, Dardenne Prairie and O’Fallon, starting in April 2023.
Sattaru was identified by investigators as the ringleader and lives in the O’Fallon home with his wife and children. The main suspect in the case, Sattaru, 35, is additionally charged with human trafficking for the purpose of slavery and contributing to human trafficking through misuse of documentation.
Briefing a conference, the police said they were initially not allowed to enter the home. However, the student eventually came running from the basement.
They beat him with their fists, they stomped on him and beat him with electrical wiring, police said. He was trembling uncontrollably, heavily scarred and suffering from bruising and swelling all over his body, charges stated.
The local community was shocked by the arrests, as they had viewed the suspects as a pleasant, normal family. This case is a reminder of the deceptively benign aspects that often mask the most heinous crimes.
