Dharam Shourie in New York | August 22, 2007 09:26 IST


A multimillionaire Indian-American couple, facing charges of enslaving and torturing two Indonesian women, was released on bail but will be kept under strict house arrest in their mansion.

Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, 35, and her husband Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani, 51, walked out of the prison without handcuffs for the first time since they were arrested three months ago after they posted a bail for $4.5 million.

Prosecutors had insisted that the couple, which has family in Indonesia and has been running a perfume business from their home in Long Island here, is a flight risk.

The release came with strict conditions including two armed guards from a private security firm guarding their house round the clock, wearing of electronic monitoring brackets by both and monitoring of their telephones and Internet connection by a private security firm.

The couple will pay for the security which, according to some accounts, cost upto $10,000 per day.

Their trial is scheduled to begin later this year and if convicted, each could get up to 20 years in prison.

The Sabhnanis have denied the charges. US District Judge Thomas Platt had denied them bail, but his decision was overturned by the appeals court.

Speaking to reporters, one of Sabhnani's attorney Jeffrey Hoffman said the couple was happy and thrilled to be going home to their four children.

It has been difficult for the couple's children, who are in their teens and early 20s, without having their parents at home, he added.

Hoffman was also critical of the government seeking stiff conditions for their release, saying the couple has been imprisoned even though they have been convicted of nothing and are presumed innocent.

The couple was arrested when one of the women they had kept as domestic help escaped while keeping trash on the curb and was found wandering near a shop wearing only a towel and pants.

Later, their home was searched and the other woman was rescued.

Prosecution alleged that the women were beaten, scalded, forced to climb stairs several times and take repeated showers for small mistakes they were perceived to have made.

The only compensation they got was $100 the couple sent to relatives abroad.

The women are now being cared for by Catholic charities.