Indian Techie Naveen Ningappa Jailed in US for Allegedly Setting Up Date with 12-Year-Old Child

Like so many before him, 28-year-old Indian techie Naveen Ningappa from Chitradurga, Karnataka, used the Internet for social purposes as much as for work. Yet, as American authorities allege, when he began communicating with what he believed to be a 12-year-old girl and then allegedly requested a meeting with the supposed child, he got caught up in a sting operation.

The Deccan Herald out of India reports that Naveen Ningappa is now being held in the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Pennsylvania prison and is charged - among other things - with solicitation to commit rape. Sent to New Jersey in 2007 by his company for work, the sting operation in which Mr. Ningappa got caught up originated in California.

The bias of the Deccan Herald is somewhat surprising. Referring to Mr. Ningappa as one who is "languishing" in prison -- and thereafter happily reporting that he spends his time playing chess, reading books and watching television -- the paper also asserts that he was forced by the child to meet her at a location in Norristown, Pennsylvania. It is unclear how a mere child with whom the adult Indian techie was conversing would have accomplished this feat. The paper does concede that Mr. Ningappa was indeed voluntarily chatting with the alleged 12-year-old girl online.

Finding the bail of $150,000 and later on $500,000 impossible to afford, Naveen Ningappa expressed to the Herald that he does not believe his public defender to do a good job, but he also is not able to hire his own defense attorney. Mr. Ningappa's father is reportedly rather upset that his son was nabbed for something he did not actually have the chance to commit. The family is planning to meet with Chief Minister Yeddyurappa and hopes that the government will intercede with the United States for the release of their son.

There is some disconnect between the story the Herald reports and the story that Times Now TV publishes in that the latter account stipulates that Mr. Ningappa never actually met with the child but only chatted with her. This fails to explain how he ended up in a sting operation.