Last year, when Lakireddy Balireddy was arrested and jailed in the US -- he was accused of importing teenaged Indian girls for sex -- the villagers in Velvadam, Andhra Pradesh, took to the streets in protest. They said he was a philanthropist; he was their messiah.

A small village, two kilometres from the township of Mylavaram and 30 kilometres from Vijayawada, Velvadam is dominated by Balireddy's family homes and mansion. His uncle, relatives and one brother stay there. They own and manage a number of Hindu temples, schools and colleges (including the concrete elementary and higher secondary schools in Velvadam itself) and an engineering institute in Myalavaram. Every year, the Berkeley landlord spent millions of rupees, celebrating Hindu and Christian festivals in Velvadam and the nearby villages.

Balireddy was the richest man in the village and Velvadam basked in his reflected glory.

Today, Balireddy has confessed his crimes and says he repents for them. The protests in his native village have given way to humiliation and contempt. The villagers and the local media now say they are ashamed that they belong to his village.

A telephone call to his uncle Venkatram Reddy brings forth a diatribe. "He is a shame to our family. I feel sorry I am his uncle," said 70-year-old Venkatram who manages a number of temples that Balireddy built around Velvadam. Venkatram, who also managed and taught in a primary school established by Balireddy, says, "I always thought he was taking the girls from Velvadam and the nearby areas to help their families and the villages. Now, our hopes have crashed."

Balireddy's younger brother Venkateswar Reddy is in Velvadam for his annual holiday from the US. He rarely steps out of his bungalow for fear that the villagers might assault him. "People in the market abused Venkateswar when he came to the medical shop. Since then, he is not to be seen. His friends say Venkateswar feels ashamed he is Balireddy's brother," claims D Ramaiah, local correspondent for the Telugu newspaper, Andhra Prabha.

For many months now, Andhra Prabha has been front-paging the Balireddy trial.

Ramaiah says the fact that Reddy had been exporting teenage girls from Velvadam and other neighbouring villages for sex has stunned the local people. "Dozens of families who sent their daughters to the US through Balireddy have disappeared from the village. Parents whose children are studying in educational institutions set up by him want to move them to other schools."

Balireddy, the son of a poor farmer, migrated to the United State four decades ago. He gained almost divine status in Velvadam because his pockets were open to every villager. For years, he used charity and philanthropy to build his reputation in the eyes of the poor villagers of Velvadam and its nearby areas in Andhra Pradesh's Krishna and Vijayawada districts.

In Velvadam, Balireddy would recruit young girls, saying he was helping them become part of the affluent American life. Parents worshipped Reddy because, if not for him, they would not even have heard of a rich country called America.

Andhra Pradesh police intelligence sleuths, who helped the US consulate and police teams investigate Balireddy, claim he has taken as many as 300 young girls to the US the past decade. Yet, the police did not receive a single complaint against him from Velvadam or its nearby villages.

But police officers in Hyderabad say they have uncovered "enough evidence" to prove Balireddy took teenage girls to the US on fake passports and visas. They say he bribed officials at the passport office in Hyderabad and used fabricated marriage certificates to do so.

The AP police handed over the evidence to the US investigation team that visited Hyderabad four times in the last 15 months. A senior AP police officer said it was an anonymous letter from a villager in Velvadam to the US consulate in Madras that triggered the investigation into the biggest-ever sex scandal involving an Indian in America.

"Our police teams have met many families who sent their daughters to the US because of Balireddy. Most of them are poor and illiterate. They did not have a clue about what was happening to their children," the officer said and added that many of the families have left Velvadam, unable to stand the stigma arising out of the fact that Balireddy had used their daughters as sex slaves.

Among the families who have disappeared from Velvadam are Prathipatty and Lakshmi German, an old dalit couple with no means of livelihood. They had sent both their daughters to work in Balireddy's restaurants. It was their eldest daughter, 18-year-old Sitha, who died from a carbon monoxide leak in an apartment belonging to Balireddy at Berkeley in November 1999. The fact that it was Sita's unnatural death which opened Balireddy's can of worms has not given the Germans any comfort.

Balireddy exploited the poverty of such families and lured several parents like the Germans with the bright dreams of a prosperous America. His downfall has sealed that dream. Police officers in Andhra Pradesh said the US consulate has temporarily stopped issuing visas to villagers from Velvadam and the nearby districts. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has also ordered an investigation into the fake passport and visa cases involving Balireddy.

Last year, after Balireddy's arrest, a number of banners sprang up in Velvadam. They said: 'Balireddy is God's gift to Velvadam,' 'Balireddy is our Mother Teresa,' 'We pray for Balireddy,' 'Save Balireddy.' But, after his tearful admission of guilt, the villagers have been left with nothing but a sense of humiliation and disgust against their 'messiah.'

Also read:
The Lakireddy case: The complete coverage

Design: Dominic Xavier.

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