Abhishek Gattani, an Indian American, who is the Cuberon CEO and co-founder, entered into a plea deal stemming from his second felony domestic violence charge brought by his wife of 10 years Neha Rastogi who recorded his verbal abuse, threats and physical beatings. The controversial settlement, which Rastogi is not happy with, will likely see Gattani spend less than a month in jail.
Gattani, will, despite the evidence presented against him, also have a felony assault charge reduced to felony accessory after the fact, with an accompanying misdemeanor of “offensive touching,” reported The Daily Beast.
Cuberon, a startup based in Silicon Valley, describes itself as a “customer behavior analytics company that helps product and marketing teams to discover, analyze, and visualize customer behavior that impacts their business metrics.” The felony charge against Gattani may be also expunged from his record, which Rastogi pleaded with a judge overseeing the case, not to do so.
In the recordings by Rastogi, made on May 17, 2016, of 5 minutes and 58 seconds of her life which she submitted to the police, Gattani comes across as an extremely controlling and abusive man, who seems bent on subduing his wife to complete submission to his wishes, despite the fact that Gattani was an extremely competent software professional herself, having worked for Apple, Flip and Cisco.
“No, no, no,” he said in one recording when the pair were discussing software bugs, and he repeatedly calls her bitch. “When did I say that’s a bug? We talked about bugs right? Is it getting very difficult for you to focus? You really do need help. You need me to take another step and come to you. You need help?, adding: “You don’t want to get beaten up? Then control yourself.”
The audio recordings also captures the several beatings Gattani gives to his wife during the course of the conversation, with at least 9 of them being heard. Rastogi reveals in her complaint that she was repeatedly beaten and called worse, including slut and whore.
Gattani had previously been charged with felony assault in November, 2013, after a postal worker reported a woman being assaulted on the street, noted Raw Story. According to the Beast, the officer’s report included witness accounts of Gattani “pushing and pulling [Rastogi] along the sidewalk while punching her with a closed fist in the side and back multiple times.”
That felony charge was reduced to a misdemeanor charge at Rastogi’s urging, the Beast notes, Three years later, in May 2016, she recorded audio of her husband’s abuse.
The plea was made at Santa Clara County Superior Court, the same place where judge Aaron Perksy drew national criticism after sentencing Brock Turner to six months in jail for three charges of felony sexual assault. At what was supposed to be Gattani’s sentencing at the courthouse, Rastogi read aloud from an impact statement relating to the plea, reported Raw Story. “‘Misdemeanor—offensive touching’? I didn’t even need to look this one up, as it made me laugh when then I realized that I was laughing at myself, I was the joke here,” she said. “‘Offensive touching!’”
“Please explain me is it offensive touching when a 8 month pregnant woman is beaten and then forced to stand for the entire night by her husband? Is it offensive touching when a mother nursing her six-day old child is slapped on her face by her husband because he thinks she is not latching properly with the child? Is it offensive touching when a women is flung to the floor and repetitively kicked in her belly? Is it offensive touching when a woman is slapped nine times by her husband until she agrees to everything he is saying and then gets hit again for not agreeing with it sooner?” Rastogi continued. “Offensive touching—I call it terrorism,” she said.
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Rodney Stafford promised he listened “very carefully” to Rastogi’s “powerful statement.” Unfortunately, he was just filling in for fellow Judge Allison Danner.