The Sabhnanis deny the charges, arguing that they were often out the country and the women had all the time to run away.
NEW YORK: An Indian-American couple charged with enslaving and torturing two Indonesian women was denied bail by a federal judge after defence and prosecution failed to reach an agreement on terms of the bail.
US District Court Judge Thomas Platt agreed with the prosecutors that Varsha Mohender Sabhnani, 35, and her husband Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani must remain in jail while they await their trial.The couple's lawyers said they would appeal the decision.
The Sabhnanis deny the charges, arguing that they were often out the country and the women had all the time to run away. If convicted, they could get up to 30 years in prison.
Platt had agreed to release them on USD 3.5 million bail two weeks ago into their mansion which was to be turned into prison provided the prosecution and defence could work out an acceptable arrangement.
Under the provision of the bail, the couple was to remain in their mansion except to go out to meet their attorneys, visit doctor and go to the temple. They were to be electronically monitored with their house under 24-hour surveillance.
Platt said he had given the opportunity to the couple to reach an agreement with the prosecutors who vehemently oppose their release on bail. But yesterday he ruled that they would have to remain in jail as no condition was suitable for their release. They will have to remain behind bars until trial which is expected sometime in September.
Though the couples' passports were impounded when they were arrested and their bank accounts frozen, the prosecution argued that Sabhnanis might have hidden assets which could make them a flight risk.
The couple, which has a perfume business and factories in Singapore and Bahrain, was arrested after one of the Indonesian women was found wandering near a restaurant here.
The other woman was found during the search of their house the same day. The prosecution has also alleged that Varsha Sabhnani's mother, who is in Indonesia, had tried to give a bribe of USD 28,000 to the family of one of the women
if she returned to Indonesia without pursuing the case.
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