A 31-year-old Indian man from Telangana died by suicide in a US federal prison, just four months into a 35-year sentence for sexually exploiting minors online, reports claimed. The sentence was given to Kurremula Sai Kumar in March this year. He committed suicide on July 26. According to reports, Sai Kumar was found unresponsive in his cell after hanging himself. He was pronounced dead shortly after, but no other details regarding his death have been released. Reports claimed he was under mental distress after he was sentenced to 35 years in prison. The Telangana man moved to the United States a decade ago. When he was arrested, he was living in Oklahoma with his wife. He pleaded guilty to multiple charges related to the sexual exploitation of minors and distribution of child pornography. He posed as a 15-year-old on social media to manipulate minor girls. He also made three minor victims send him sexually explicit material and later distributed those images. According to the US Department of Justice, the FBI began investigating an account on Snapchat in 2023 based on a criminal complaint. It was alleged that the user was sexually exploiting minor girls. “The Internet Protocol address used to create the account led federal authorities to Kurremula. Public documents and evidence at the sentencing hearing allege Kurremula had sexually exploited at least 19 minors through Snapchat, often posing as a 13- to 15-year-old boy to gain the trust of his victims. When the victims refused his requests, Kurremula would manipulate, threaten, and extort his victims to produce even more child pornography,” the DOJ said at the time of his sentence. The threats included telling his minor victims that he would come to their house and shoot their family, and show their parents their sexually explicit images. “This case serves as a clear warning to others that the strongest of penalties await those who exploit and victimize our children. I applaud the work done by federal prosecutors and law enforcement for stopping Kurremula from harming any other children and holding him accountable,” US attorney Robert J Troester said.
