NRI couple accused of enslaving women face

NEW YORK: 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.

Murlidhar Sabhnani, 51, and his wife, Varsha Mahender 45, who are 4.5 million dollar bail and are paying around 10,000 dollars per day for the security of their mansion which has been turned into a temporary prison, could get up to 40 years in jail if convicted.

The duo are being on tried on 12 counts including involuntary servitude. They have pleaded not guilty.

The testimony of their 51-year-old domestic, identified only as Samirah, yesterday was preliminary and she broke into tears after making eye contact with them at the end of the hearing.  She does not know English and is giving the testimony through an interpreter.

The jury was shown the kitchen knife with which the women alleged Varsha Sabhnani slashed them. They also alleged that they were made to go up and down the stairs repeatedly if Varsha perceived that they had made some mistake and forced to take cold water showers.

The defense attorneys argue that there is no basis for the charges and the women could have run away as Sabhnanis, who have worldwide perfume business, were often out.

But the women say that Sabhnanis had taken away their passports and they did not English and could not communicate.

The defense attorneys say that there could be other explanations for the cuts they suffered and argue that the prosecutors had  "rushed" to judgment. They suggest that the cuts could be self inflicted as part of a ritual as the women indulged in witchcraft.

It is alleged that the couple brought the two women from Indonesia to work as housekeepers paying USD 100 per month which were to be sent to their relatives abroad. But once in their multimillion dollar mansion, they took away passport.

Varsha is accused of torturing them, physically and psychologically, and Mahender of allowing it happen.

The couple has four children.

Samirah wearing only pants and a towel was found loitering in May near a doughnut shop in the vicinity of Sabhnanis mansion in Long Island, a suburb of New York, pleading for help.

Prosecutors believe that she had escaped while putting trash out on the curb for pick up. The other woman was founding hiding when the law enforcement officials searched the house later.

The women is expected to continue her testimony Monday and touch on experiences with Sabhnanis.