Published: May 01, 2008 11:14 am            

Swami freed on bail

Followers put up $1 million cash; say leader is innocent of charges

San Marcos — Followers of a Hindu leader arrested on child indecency charges last week put up $1 million in cash to get him released from Hays County Jail.

The bailout allowed Prakashanand Saraswati, 79, known as Shree Swami to his followers, to arrive at the northern Hays County shrine he founded almost two decades ago in time to speak to those gathered for an annual festival.

Saraswati was taken into custody at Dulles Airport in Washington D.C. April 24 by the U.S. Marshal’s Service and extradited to Hays County on Saturday. Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Leroy Opiela said he arrived around 4 p.m. and was booked into jail “on two indictments alleging 20 counts of indecency with a child/sexual contact,” Opiela said.

District Judge Bill Henry set bond at $50,000 on each charge.

The case stems from an investigation by the sheriff’s office and the Hays County District Attorney that dates back to last May. Sealed indictments were issued in April, after which District Judge Charles Ramsay signed the arrest warrant.

According to a spokesman for Darsana Dham, the shrine Saraswati was founded near the Hays/Travis county line in 1990, the charges stem from two women “who claim they were inappropriately touched by Shree Swamiji more than a dozen years ago.”

“It is unfortunate and sad that someone has made these false and damaging allegations,” Barsana Dham Vice President Prabahakari Devi said in a statement. “If you know Shree Swamiji, then you know the alleged incidents of more than a dozen years ago cannot be true.”

Devi said “nearly 5,000” people were at the shrine on Saturday for the annual Mela festival, which celebrates traditional Indian culture.

“Their presence was a strong signal to all of us that the path to truth in this case will be short.”

Devi said after his arrival at the shrine, Saraswati “delivered a 20-minute message to an overflow crowd in the Temple.”

Barsana Dham is the first Hindu temple to be built in the Austin area and is one of the largest in the United States, the statement said.

Prior to his arrest, Saraswati had been in India where he was overseeing the “creation and construction of hospitals for the poor.”

Opiela said the sheriff doesn’t plan to release any more information, pending the sensitive nature of the case.

        

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