Telugu film producer, wife arrested in US for sex trafficking of actresses

A Chicago-based couple of Indian descent has been arrested for sex trafficking of Tollywood actresses to the United States.

Telugu film producer, Kishan Modugumudi alias Sreeraj Chennupati, and his wife Chandrakala were arrested by US federal agents in Chicago in April. However, the case came to light last Wednesday.

According to reports, the couple ran a high-end prostitution ring by luring actresses from Tollywood to the US and advertising them for sex at Indian conferences and cultural events across the country. The couple allegedly charged clients up to $3,000 per sexual encounter.

At least five actresses were sometimes forced to stay in a dingy, two-story apartment building in Chicago’s Belmont Cragin neighbourhood waiting for their next 'date', a report added quoting the charge sheet. They also met clients in hotels at conferences in Dallas, New Jersey and Washington.

Two top Tollywood heroines from Bengaluru and Chennai were among the five trafficking victims mentioned in the criminal complaint.

Kishan, a businessman who co-produced several hit Tollywood films, allegedly threatened one of the actresses and her family if she told law enforcement agencies about what she did in the US.

The alleged racket was exposed when an actor — referred to as the main victim in the case — was brought to the US on the pretext of taking part in a show. 

The investigators arrested the couple after the victim wrote to them asking for help.

The federal police had filed a case a few months ago and the couple was on the run, before being arrested in late April.