Aug 9, 2015

Hindu Guru Convicted of Child Molestation will be featured in CNN's "The Hunt"

August 7, 2015
KEYE-TV

Prakashanand Saraswati
Prakashanand Saraswati
The search for a Hindu guru who molested three girls is now focused in India. But exactly where he's living is still a mystery. 

A jury in Hays County convicted 86-year old Prakashanand Saraswati in 2011 on 20-counts of indecency with a child. But on the day a jury sentenced Prakashanand Saraswati also known as Swamiji to 280-years in prison he disappeared.

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"I lived there for 15-years," says Karen Jonson. She moved to the Barsana Dham Ashram in a 1993 and says "for those years, I believed he was God incarnate and everything he did, every action was divine." 

A former devotee of the man convicted of molesting children, "Almost the minute I learned the truth about the organization I thought I have to write about this primarily to warn other people because my deepest wish was that somebody would had warned me," says Jonson. 


Sex, Lies and Two Hindu Gurus
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Her book, Sex, Lies and Two Hindu Gurus details her experience in the ashram including a sexual encounter she says she had with Sarawswati and how he found his victims.

She says "In a way parents were offering their children to him whether it be directly or just by being quiet and not saying anything." 

Saraswati is now believed to be in India, he left despite paying a 1-million dollar cash bond. 

"I have laid awake thinking about that day and what we would have done differently," says Former Hays County District Attorney Sherri Tibbe. 

Tibbe still thinks about how he slipped away and says "at the time I never would have dreamed that he would have taken flight like he did." But getting him extradited from India to the United States won't be easy. 

Supervisor Deputy U.S. Marshal Hector Gomez says "ultimately the decision to extradite rests on the government of India and their judicial system." While U.S. Marshals have leads on where he may be hiding they still need more information. 

"Saraswati owes a debt to the people of Texas and of course that debt is going to be outstanding until he his brought back to Texas to serve that time," says Gomez. 

As for Jonson years after she left the ashram, she is still healing and angry at the man she once worshipped. 

She says "I just think he's a horrible scum bag child molester, pedophile, just one of the worst types of people. The temple changed its name four years ago in an effort to distance itself from Sarawswati. 

Saraswati will be featured on CNN's "The Hunt" on Sunday August 9th. 

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