Indian-origin US Army veteran pleaded guilty to having enslaved his cousin from India.
38-year-old Venkatesh Sattaru, a US Army veteran, has been sentenced to prison on various charges of domestic assault in a spine-chilling case of suspected human trafficking that took place around 2022-2023. Sattaru’s cousin, an Indian, came to St Louis in December 2022, according to court records.
The physical abuse included the use of dangerous weapons and resulted in serious bodily injury to the victim,” the court document said. Sattaru, a resident of St Louis, brought his young cousin to the US and then used him as bonded labor. He was staying at one of Sattaru’s houses and was asked to do all household chores and errands for the company that Sattaru owned. This went on for months until the cousin was shifted to a different house of Sattaru. Sattaru used to punish his cousin when he failed to perform his duties and confiscated his immigration paperwork. He did not let him sleep, physically abused him and restricted him his access to the bathroom, bathing and food. “Sometimes Sattaru punished the victim himself. At other times, Sravan Penumetcha and Nikhil Penmasta punished the victim, either at Sattaru’s request or on their own initiative.
When Sattaru was first accused of enslaving his Indian cousin in 2023, his former friend Karthik Bollam told FirstAlert4 that he met Sattaru in India, where he had strong political affiliations and got land in India. to the YSR Congress Party. Satturu came to the US in 2008 and worked at a kiosk at a local mall, according to records. Then he enlisted in the Army around 2012, after he received his US citizenship.
Bollam said at that time that Sattaru was known for using his political powers to help people. Court documents said he was honorably discharged in 2014 after suffering “lifelong debilitating injuries while in training.” All three individuals pleaded guilty. Sattaru pleaded guilty in April to one count of confiscating or concealing immigration paperwork while obtaining the labor or services of a person by means of serious harm or threats of serious harm and one count of theft of government funds. He had a restaurant in India and when it started performing poorly, he reached out to people to come to the US.
