Prakashanand Saraswati Swami

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

U S Marshals Service Hays County District Court (TX)

Missing From:

Driftwood, Texas

Summary:

Prakashanand Saraswati, also known as Swamiji, is a Hindu monk and convicted child molester from Ayodhya, India. In 2011, a jury found Swami Prakashanand Saraswati guilty on 20 counts of indecency with a child. On the night of March 6, 2011, or early the next morning, he crossed the Mexican border with assistance from followers, and later used a fake passport to escape to India in November. He is still a fugitive and appeared on the Fox TV show America's Most Wanted.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Offense:

Prakashanand, 82, was arrested in April 2008 and charged with touching the breasts of two then-minor girls between 1993 and 1996. On March 4, 2011, Prakashanand Saraswati was convicted by a jury in Hays County, Texas on twenty counts of Indecency with a Child by Sexual Contact. On March 07, 2011, Saraswati failed to appear in Hays County District Court for the sentencing phase of the trial, and at that time a Failure to Appear arrest warrant was issued by presiding 22nd Judicial District Judge, Charles Ramsay. Two days after the conviction, his followers met in a devotee's home in Driftwood to plan his escape. Later that night of March 6, 2011, or early the next morning, at least one of them accompanied the guru, who uses a wheelchair, over the Mexican border to Nuevo Laredo.

Additional Details:

Prakashanand founded the Barsana Dham ashram in Driftwood in the early 1990s and was its spiritual leader until a Hays County jury in early March found him guilty of 20 counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact. The day after the guru went on the lam, he was sentenced in absentia to 14 years in prison. The jury fined him $200,000 and sentenced him in absentia to 280 years in prison, a sentence far exceeding that of violent offenders including convicted murderers, in Hays County. After secretly moving just south of Tijuana in mid-2011, Prakashanand — who'd shaved his long white beard and cut his shoulder-length hair — then used a fake passport to escape to India in November. In December 2011, marshals learned that his personal aide, Vishwambhari Devi, had activated a life insurance policy in India. Six months later, a marshal heard from two confidential sources that Prakashanand had made it safely to India. Two other sources confirmed that the spiritual leader had successfully fled Mexico sometime in November. Ethan DeMitchell said he had been instructed to purchase a fake passport so that Saraswati could flee Mexico to India, and to start contacting private charter jet companies to explore how to hire a plane to fly the guru out of Mexico. He remains at large as of 2025.

Case Last Updated:

Aug 28, 2026