By IANS
New York : A wealthy Indian American couple, who face charges of enslaving two Indonesian women, have been given bail but will be confined to house arrest and pay a penalty of $15,000 a day.
Under the bail arrangement Tuesday, Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, 45, and her husband, Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani, 51, will be confined to their Long Island mansion under constant police surveillance.
Sources familiar with the bail arrangements say the Sabhnanis, will have to pay as much as $15,000 a day under the terms of their release.
The Indian American couple who run an international perfume business in the US were arrested May and charged by federal authorities for illegally keeping two Indonesian women at their Long Island house and torturing them for the past five years.
US District Judge Thomas Platt, who had originally declined to release the couple on any conditions, was overruled by a federal appeals court that said that prosecutors should be able to craft conditions to ensure that Sabhnanis don’t flee the country before the trial, despite their wealth.
Platt ordered the release after prosecutors said they believe that the conditions had been met, including an accounting of the Sabhnanis’ assets, which prosecutor Mark Lesko said in court amounted to about $12 million.
Platt set bail for Varsha Sabhnani at $2.5 million bail; and at $2 million for Mahender Sabhnani.
The couple arrived at their mansion in Long Island, 14 weeks after they were arrested, accompanied by armed private security guards, for whom they are having to pay as part of a bail agreement to turn their home into the equivalent of a prison, News Day newspaper reported.
Among the other conditions — the home will be guarded around the clock by two armed guards who have the power to detain the Sabhnanis or their children, by using reasonable force if they believe any of them are planning to flee.
In addition, a monitor, also paid for by the Sabhnanis, will be stationed in the basement of the home to check on incoming and outgoing communication via the single telephone, fax machine and computer that will be permitted in the home.
The monitor will also check on the cell phones that two of the Sabhnani children, who have severe diabetes, will be allowed to carry. But those phones can only be used in emergencies.
“We’re happy that they’re finally getting out, but they should have been bailed out,” said Jeffrey Hoffmann, Varsha Sabhnani’s attorney.
“We are thankful on behalf of the family that finally justice is being served in a way and thankful to Judge Platt,” Bharat Jotnani, a spokesperson for the Sabhnani family said.