Indian pupil beaten up, forced into labour for months in US
Washington, December 1
Authorities in the US have rescued a 20-year-old Indian student, who was held captive for months without access to a bathroom, viciously beaten, and forced to work at three homes by his cousin and two other Indian-origin 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.
On Wednesday, the police descended upon a home on a rural highway in St Charles County. They later arrested Venkatesh R Sattaru, Sravan Varma Penumetcha and Nikhil Verma Penmatsa, and on Thursday charged them with offences including human trafficking, kidnapping and assault.
The police were dispatched to investigate the home after a concerned citizen became aware of his situation and called 911. The victim is safe and being treated at a hospital for multiple bone fractures, as well as lacerations and injuries covering his entire body, said prosecutor Joe McCulloch.
Over seven months, the men locked him in a basement and forced him to sleep on an unfinished floor without access to a bathroom.
The student had come to the US from India last year with hopes of studying at Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla.
