A multi-millionaire Indian-American couple, found guilty of virtually enslaving two Indonesian maids, has been ordered to pay nearly $1 million in back wages to their former housekeepers by a US court. The court declared on Friday that the workers are entitled to double the amount of unpaid wages they were owed by their employees, Mahender and Varsha Sabhnani.
Indian-born Mahender Murlidhar Sabhani, 51, and his wife, Indonesian-born Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, 45, were each convicted of all charges in a 12-count federal indictment that included forced labour, conspiracy, involuntary servitude and harbouring aliens.
The Right to Information Act has virtually proved the transparency it promised after a reserved category candidate in Chhattisgarh extensively used it to expose chinks in state Public Service Commission examinations.
Image Alert: These models will make your screen MELT.
The two women had no legal status and were given visa for one year so that they can testify. That would expire in May after which they are likely to get special visa which lets victims of such abuse stay in the country for four years at the end of which they get Green Card and then go on to become citizens if they so choose.
Varsha and Mahender Sabhnani fired their attorneys and hired new ones but prosecution said new defence lawyers had conflict of interest.
The bail amount includes $2.5 million for Versha who was accused of actually torturing the Indonesian women and $1 million for Mahender who was accused of allowing the torture to take place.
Mahender Sabhnani, 51, was sentenced by a federal court on Friday, a day after his wife, Varsha, 46, was jailed for 11 years and fined USD 25,000 for torturing the housemaids in a well-reported case, which brought out the hidden danger that aliens not conversant with English face.
Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, 35, and her husband Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani, 51, walked out of the prison without handcuffs for the first time since they were arrested three months ago after they posted a bail for $4.5 million.
After a three-week trial, a jury had convicted the multi-millionaire couple, which has a world-wide perfume business, on all 12 charges brought against them by the prosecutors which included forced labour, involuntary servitude and harbouring illegal aliens.
If convicted, the couple could get up to 30 years in prison.
US District court judge Thomas Platt told the prosecution and defence lawyers on Monday that he was not satisfied with the bail agreement and fixed the next hearing for Wednesday.
The bail for Varsha Mahender Sabhanani was set at $2.5 million and for her husband, Mahender Murlidhar Sabhanani, at $1 million.
Once fierce rivals, Thakkar and Ganapthy, on Friday, joined forces to clinch a bronze medal in 49er event after finishing third with 43 net points.
Sena MP Sanjay Raut, however, said his party was firm on a written assurance from the senior alliance partner over power sharing, including rotating CM's post for 2.5 years.
A federal court jury that found Varsha Sabhnani and her husband Mahendar guilty of slavery charges voted to take away their upscale home in Muttontown, Long Island, New York.
'Banning conversion would harm Hinduism by taking away the need for reform.'
An Indian-American multimillionaire couple, charged with enslaving and torturing two Indonesian women, faced for the first time in the court one of the alleged victims who escaped from their mansion.
The 10-day Ganesh festival began on Saturday under the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic, with devotees restricting celebrations to their homes and using online platforms to get 'darshan' of the Lord at temples, amid strict COVID-19 restrictions imposed by governments.
Mahender Sabhani and his wife Varsha, who are in the perfume business, were booked in a federal court on the charges of using threats of physical harm to obtain services.
Sulking Maharashtra Industries Minister Narayan Rane, who was pitching for a leadership change ahead of the state assembly elections, on Monday resigned from the government.
Following is the schedule of Indian contingent on the seventh day of the Asian Games on Saturday.
"We met Gandhi and sought her intervention on the Maharashtra government's decision to ban dance bars," Bharatiya Bar Girls Union chief Varsha Kale said.
A look at the star arrivals.
While Delhi boasts of one of the best metro systems in the world and decent infrastructure, reckless construction, legalising unauthorised colonies, and the worsening water and air quality dent its image of being a robust cosmopolitan city.
Fadnavis paid tribute at his official residence 'Varsha' to the revered artist.
The union demanded that the government resolution banning the bars be postponed for three months.
Gagan Narang, Jitu Rai and young Mehuli Ghosh failed to make the Indian shooting squad for the upcoming Asian Games, even as a few unheralded faces were picked for the quadrennial extravaganza, starting in Indonesia, from August 18.
When contacted whether Letters Rogatory have been sent, CBI sources said "it is in the process".
The Bombay high court on Thursday upheld the order of a magistrate's court rejecting the plea seeking documents regarding the sex determination test allegedly undergone by actor Shahrukh Khan's wife prior to the birth of the couple's third child.
Only 19 out of 41 ministers in the erstwhile Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government in Maharashtra have vacated their official bungalows so far, whereas names of NCP stalwart Ajit Pawar and senior Congress leader Narayan Rane figure in the list of squatters, an RTI query has revealed.
The indefinite strike called by theatre owners across Maharashtra from Friday has been deferred for 90 days even as the state government decided to set up a Cabinet sub-committee to look into the demands of the cinema hall owners.\n\n
Asian Games gold-medallist Saurabh Chaudhary shattered the world record to claim the junior 10m air pistol gold at the ISSF World Championships
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