Cops: Calif. restaurant owner held cook captive, beat him
SANTA CLARITA, Calif. -- A California restaurant owner held a man captive, beat him and forced him to work as a cook up to 16 hours a day without pay, police allege.
CBS LA reports that 47-year-old Pardeep Kumar, owner of the Tandoor Grill in Santa Clarita, is facing charges including human trafficking, torture, and assault with a deadly weapon.
Santa Clarita is about 30 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
Police tell the station they were tipped off when a man in Mumbai, India, claimed his 55-year-old brother was being held against his will. Investigators say the victim came to the U.S. from India to work as a chef, but his boss tortured him, forced him to live with him at his home and cut off his communications.
At the restaurant, the man was beaten with a two-foot piece of knife-sharpening steel, and was also beaten at the suspect's home with a metal mop handle, Los Angeles Sheriff's Department Major Crimes Bureau Capt. Merrill Landenheim told the station.
The victim told police Kumar foced him to work up to 16 hours a day without pay for three years, reports the station. A neighbor told CBS LA he saw the victim arrive early in the morning and leave late at night.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Santa Clarita Sheriff's station.