New Delhi: Four people of Indian origin have been arrested in Texas and charged with the trafficking of persons—a second-degree felony in the state—after police found 15 women living in the same home and sleeping on the floor.
Santhosh Katkoori, Dwaraka Gunda, Anil Male and Chandan Dasireddy have all been arrested after the Princeton Police Department in north Texas raided a home belonging to Katkoori earlier in March this year. The police have now released information about the case after a months-long investigation.
In March, a pest control company called to Katkoori’s house found three to five young women in each room and a number of suitcases, leading them to contact the Princeton Police Department, according to Fox 4 News.
On 13 March, the police obtained a search warrant and found 15 adult women who alleged they were forced to work for multiple programming shell companies owned by Katkoori and his wife, Gunda.
The Princeton Police said that when searching the house, they found several laptops, cell phones, printers and fraudulent documents. The investigation revealed that the alleged forced labour network was operating across at least three cities in Texas—Melissa, Princeton and McKinney.
Additional laptops and documents were seized from different locations. It was found that the perpetrators also allegedly forced adult men to work, although no mention was made by the Princeton Police department of the type of programming work they were asked to perform.
The operation allegedly involved over 100 people, with more than half being victims of human trafficking and forced labour, as reported by Fox 4 News.
A lawyer on behalf of the four individuals in a statement to ThePrint said: “My clients are running an IT-based consulting company in Texas. They have been wrongly accused of human trafficking following a misunderstanding during a routine pest control visit at the guest house provided to their employees in March 2024. The Princeton Police Department issued a letter on 25th October 2024 categorically stating that the charges against my clients have been dropped and that the Princeton Police Department does not wish to charge my clients for any offense. The charges against my clients are dismissed and there is no evidence of wrongdoing.”
The Princeton Police Department in Texas in a written response to queries from ThePrint said that the “investigation is still ongoing”.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)