Chicago: Chicago-based couple of Indian descent have been accused of running a high-end racket that was luring female actors from Tollywood and advertising them for sex work at events across the United States.
The prostitution racket was masterminded by Kishan Modugumudi, 34, an Indian businessman who rose to become a player in the Telugu film industry and co-produced several hit films, Chicago Tribune reported.
Kishan Modugumudi (34) and his wife Chandra Modugumudi (31) were arrested then. But only after The Chicago Tribune’s report on June 14, the case came to the public eye. The report also reveals that a 42-page criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, which said the racket charged clients up to $3,000 for each sexual encounter.
While here on temporary visas, at least five actresses were sometimes forced to stay in a dingy, two-story apartment building in Chicago’s Belmont Cragin neighborhood waiting for their next “date,” the charges alleged. They also met clients in hotels at conferences in Dallas, New Jersey and Washington.
Federal agents discovered the ledgers when they searched the Modugumudis’ apartment in the 5700 block of West Belden Avenue in February, according to the complaint. They also found more than 70 condoms divided up into “multiple Ziplock bags.”
Agents later obtained a search warrant for Kishan Modugumudi’s email accounts and discovered a note written by Victim A in December begging him to stop harassing and threatening her, according to the complaint.
“Please do not call me and don’t try to contact me,” the woman allegedly wrote. “It was very unpleasant doing business with you and I don’t want to do any business with you now or in future. If you try contacting me again, I’ll have to make formal complaint.”
Modugumudi and his wife have been in federal custody since agents arrested them in late April in suburban Washington, D.C., on a warrant, records show.
