HYDERABAD: A Telugu businessman- turned film producer and his wife were arrested in Chicago for allegedly running a sex racket by luring upcoming actresses from Tollywood and then forcing them to have sex with clients. Modugumidi Kishan, 34, and his wife Chandra were arrested in the last week of April. The news broke on Wednesday after the Chicago media reported the police filing a chargesheet in the case.
According to some reports, three Tollywood actresses travelling to Chicago were stopped at Chicago airport on Wednesday after the authorities found that their mobile numbers were stored in Kishan’s mobile. According to reports in the Chicago media, the couple promised Tollywood actresses they would participate in cultural events and conferences organised by various associations in the United States.
The couple allegedly charged clients up to $3,000 per sexual encounter. The reports said that the actresses were forced to stay in dingy, two-storey apartment buildings in the Belmont Cragin area of Chicago. They were on temporary US visas and met clients in hotels in Dallas, New Jersey and Washington.
The charge against them is that Kishan allegedly threatened one of the actresses and her family if she told law enforcement agencies about what she did in the US. Kishan’s wife Chandra allegedly kept detailed ledgers of the sexual encounters of each girl, including where they occurred and how much they collected. Federal agents discovered the ledgers during a search of the couple's apartment in West Belden Avenue. In the seized mobiles police found hundreds of messages Chandra had exchanged with clients over prices for each girl.
Often, she would send photos of the girl. Kishan and Chandra have been in federal custody since their arrest in late April in suburban Washington DC. The couple's two school-aged children are in the custody of child welfare officials in Virginia. Following the report, Movie Artistes Association president Shivaji Raja said film fraternity leaving for any event abroad can check with the association.
