Teen in Berkeley Landlord Case Was Pregnant
Asphyxiated girl brought from India
Debra Levi Holtz, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 7, 2000
©2000 San Francisco Chronicle

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/03/07/MN73019.DTL


BERKELEY -- A teenage girl allegedly brought from India by a wealthy Berkeley landlord to have sex with him was pregnant when she died of carbon monoxide poisoning last year, according to an autopsy report.

Chanti Jyotsna Devi Prattipati, 17, was between 7 and 10 days pregnant, according to the Alameda County Coroner's report. The report identifies her as Seetha Vemireddy, a false identity used on passport and visa documents when she entered the country last August with her 15-year-old sister.

An investigation into the girl's death led to a federal indictment against 62-year-old landlord Lakireddy Bali Reddy on charges that he smuggled the girls from their small village in southern India for sex.

Reddy's attorney said yesterday that he wants DNA tests done on the fetal tissue to prove that the landlord, and his accused son, were not the father.

``If it's true that the deceased woman was pregnant,'' attorney Ted Cassman said, ``then we are convinced that such evidence will be persuasive proof of our clients' innocence and that she had sexual relations with someone other than our clients.''

Cassman did not elaborate.

The sisters were living with another young Indian woman in a one-bedroom apartment owned by Lakireddy in Berkeley. It was in the apartment at 2020 Bancroft Way that Prattipati and her sister were overcome by carbon monoxide fumes from a faulty wall heater on November 24.

Prattipati died of acute carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the autopsy, and her death was ruled accidental. Her 15-year- old sister survived and is in federal protective custody.

Reddy is also accused of using fraudulent high-tech visas to bring other poor villagers, including a man posing as the father of the teenage sisters, to Berkeley to work at Reddy's apartment buildings and restaurants. Reddy's son, 30-year-old Vijay Lakireddy, allegedly helped his father carry out the scheme by signing false immigration documents claiming the illegal aliens would work for his computer consulting firm in Berkeley.

The autopsy performed on Prattipati following her death revealed a mass measuring 8 centimeters in diameter in her uterus, according to the coroner's report. Pathology tests, conducted in consultation with physicians at Stanford University, said the mass is consistent with a pregnancy of between 7 and 10 days.

Matt Jacobs, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office, refused to comment yesterday on the autopsy results.

Berkeley police, who are investigating possible statutory rape charges against Reddy, have not decided whether to order DNA tests of the fetal tissue to determine paternity.

DNA testing could become necessary, said Lt. Bob Maloney, because Prattipati is no longer able to testify about with whom she was sexually involved.

Reddy's attorney has said he has evidence proving the girls were older than 18 at the time of the poisoning. But according to the coroner's report, the man posing as Prattipati's father and Reddy, acting as his translator, told a coroner's investigator two days after her death that the girl was 17 years old, born on May 13, 1982.

Maloney said the dead girl's passport and visa documents showed the same birth date.

Reddy, the largest landlord in Berkeley, was released on $10 million bail in January and is living in Merced while he awaits trial.


©2000 San Francisco Chronicle Page A19