Two Alcoholic Beverage Control licenses were revoked in Gilroy on Thursday following a 2020 investigation that uncovered human trafficking and slavery.
The Santa Clara County’s D-A’s office says husband and wife Amarjit and Balwinder Mann, both aged 66, locked a man in their liquor store where he worked 15-hour shifts seven days a week, slept in a storage room, bathed in a mop bucket and was never paid. They were arrested in November of 2020.
Today (on Thursday), ABC revoked the liquor license at M and M Liquor and Gavilan Market, both in Gilroy.
In addition to the labor human trafficking charges, the Mann’s face multiple Penal Code violations, including wage theft, conspiracy, witness intimidation, and failing to maintain workers’ compensation insurance. The criminal case involves as many as four victims.
The man who is believed to have been enslaved had come from India in 2019 expecting to travel to the U.S. with the couple. Instead, they took his money and passport and put him to work without pay or a key to leave the liquor store at night, reported the DA’s office in November.
