Italian Employer Arrested For ‘Manslaughter’ Over Indian Farm Worker Satnam Singh’s Death

Suspected gangmaster Antonello Lovato allegedly abandoned Singh after a strawberry wrapping machine severed his arm in Lazio, near Rome, last month. 

Police in Italy have arrested the man who dumped a 31-year-old Indian employee on the road without medical assistance after his arm was severed by heavy farm machinery, PTI reported. The injury caused the death of Satnam Singh.

Suspected gangmaster Antonello Lovato, who owns the agriculture company where Singh worked, was arrested on Tuesday for alleged manslaughter, a report by Italy’s ANSA news agency said.

Singh was allegedly abandoned by his employer after a strawberry wrapping machine severed his arm in Lazio, near Rome, last month. He was airlifted from the site but died due to “copious bleeding” at a Rome hospital two days later, ANSA reported.

According to PTI, Italian prosecutors said in a statement that the Sikh farmer, who died of a massive haemorrhage, “would in all likelihood have been saved if he had been promptly assisted”.

The incident caused much outrage among Indian workers in the European country. The president of the Lazio Indian community, Gurmukh Singh, said after Lovato’s arrest that they had been “waiting for this news”. “We were angry,” he added. 

“The worst thing (Lovato) did was to leave him outside his home instead of taking him to hospital,” he was quoted as saying. “An accident can happen, but not calling for medical assistance is unacceptable.”

Gangmastering – employing temporary or migratory workers, especially for seasonal agricultural work – is said to be widespread in Italy, especially in the south of the country. People involved in this practice have frequently been accused of poor working conditions, including inadequate pay and other excesses.

‘Barbarity’

According to an earlier report, after the accident, Lovato loaded Singh and his wife into a van and left them by the side of the road near their home. Singh’s severed arm was placed in a fruit crate.

Singh’s widow Soni, who was treated for shock after the incident, has received a special ‘justice’ stay permit to end her illegal status in Italy, ANSA reported, as quoted by PTI.

On June 26, India asked Italy to take prompt action against those responsible for Singh’s death.

Muktesh Pardeshi, Secretary [Consular, Passport, Visa and Overseas Indian Affairs], conveyed to Luigi Maria Vignali, the Director General for Italian Citizens Abroad and Migration Policies, India’s “deep concern” about the death of Singh, the Indian Embassy in Italy said in a post on X. He “called for prompt action against those responsible”. 

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said last month that Singh, one of thousands of Indian immigrants who work the fields in the country, was a victim of “inhumane acts”, PTI reported.

“I hope that this barbarity will be punished harshly,” she said following a Cabinet meeting.

Giuseppe Conte of Opposition 5-Star Movement (M5S) has urged Meloni to act to stamp out brutal gangmastering.

“You lose your arm while you’re working in the fields for four euros an hour. You’re not immediately treated. They put you in a van, and they dump you like rubbish outside your home,” Conte wrote on X.

“Beside you, a strawberry basket in which your severed arm is left. You bleed out and die. It sounds like the story of a slave centuries ago. We can’t close our eyes, we can’t think about making profits while cancelling the dignity of work and the last shreds of humanity,” he wrote.

“We are ready to do our bit in parliament against these barbarities, which must be rooted out of the fields all over Italy,” he added.