Hindu guru sentenced to prison for sexual molestation in US

A US jury sentenced an elderly Hindu religious leader to 14 years in prison and fined a USD 10,000 on each of 20 counts of molesting two girls who grew up on the ashram he founded and led in Central Texas.

Prakashanand Saraswati, known to his devotees as Shree Swamiji and head of the 200-acre Hindu ashram in Texas, was sentenced by a Hays County jury after he failed to appear before it for the punishment phase of his trial.

District Judge Charles Ramsay will decide later whether 82-year-old Swamiji's prison sentences are to be served concurrently.

Last week the jury found Swamiji guilty of indecency with a child by sexual contact, based on his repeated groping of two teenagers whose families lived at the ashram he founded southwest of Austin.