Missouri: Venkatesh Reddy Sattaru arrested for kidnapping, assault & criminal action

Three Telugu guys are charged with trapping a Telugu student, forcing him to work and beating him repeatedly with electrical wire, PVC pipe etc. for months without food and sleep in Defiance, St. Charles County, Missouri. “It’s absolutely inhumane and unconscionable that one human being could treat another human being like this,” said prosecutor Joe McCulloch in a news conference Thursday.

With the tip of a good Samaritan, on Wednesday November 29, police arrested the ringleader Venkatesh Reddy Sattaru (35) and his two friends Sravan Varma Penumetcha (23) and Nikhil Verma Penmatsa (27). Police charged them with offenses including human trafficking, kidnapping and assault. A website called Sattaru.com boasts that Venkatesh Reddy Sattaru is a member of a “renowned family with business background,” and he’s posted photos with leaders of an Indian political party., YSR Congress Party (YSRCP).

Over seven months, the three men locked the victim in a basement and forced him to sleep on an unfinished floor without access to a bathroom, charges say. Authorities said the victim had come to the U.S. from India last year with hopes of studying at Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla. Instead, he was taken to Venkatesh Reddy Sattaru’s homes beginning in April and was forced to begin chores around 4:30 a.m., work a full day for Venkatesh Reddy Sattaru’s IT company and then complete a list of evening tasks.

The victim told police he regularly got three hours of sleep on a concrete floor in a locked basement where Venkatesh Reddy Sattaru monitored him with a surveillance camera, according to court documents. If the 20-year-old didn’t complete the tasks properly, he was severely beaten. Charges say he was forced to strip down naked and was hit all over his body. He was kicked, stomped and lashed, charges say.

The victim told police that Venkatesh Reddy Sattaru would often beat him himself, but Sravan Varma Penumetcha and Nikhil Verma Penmatsa sometimes punished him too. Venkatesh Reddy Sattaru would call the pair and tell them to beat the 20-year-old victim, then tell them to hit him harder if Sattaru was not satisfied with his cousin’s cries of pain, authorities said. The victim/student said he was afraid to report the trio because they were wealthy and had powerful connections in India. He said he feared for his safety, as well as his family’s in India.

Prosecutor Joe McCulloch said the victim remains in the hospital with broken ribs, broken bones in his arms, legs, hands and feet. They shared, the victim lost more than 30 pounds of body weight since arriving to the United States. Case is listed at Missouri Court with case number 2311-CR04219. All three were ordered to be held without bond. Their next court dates had not been set as of Thursday evening.