Three Indian men are facing charges for abusing, assaulting, and enslaving a 20-year-old Indian student in Missouri.
35-year-old Venkatesh Sattaru, 27-year-old Nikhil Penmatsa, and 23-year-old Sravan Penumetcha have been charged with six different offenses.
Venkatesh is said to be a youth leader of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) of Andhra Pradesh.
The unnamed victim is Venkatesh’s cousin, and the two resided together. Documents show that the victim came to Missouri after being admitted to a college and was supposed to live with his cousin. However, Venkatesh and his two friends supposedly made him a slave and kept him captive in their basement. They hadn’t given him a sufficient amount of food or water and had assaulted him on numerous occasions.
On November 30, the victim was able to break away. Reports show that Venkatesh instructed Nikhil and Sravan to torture his cousin and livestream a recording of it. If the victim didn’t yell loud enough as he was being beaten, Venkatesh would instruct his two friends two beat his cousin harder.
Venkatesh is strongly connected to YSRCP leaders and has more than 50,000 followers on his social media accounts. In addition to being the state coordinator for the legal part of the YSRCP, he is also listed as a member of the teachers’ federation, trade union, and medical unit of the party.
