Jagadguru Ram Tripathi Maharaj with a worldwide following of thousands has returned to Trinidad to face the charges of rape and molestation made against him by a 22 year old female Guyanese devotee. His wife and five children also made the trip to Trinidad with him.
The swami is charged with the rape of a 22-year-old Guyanese woman and with indecently assaulting her.
The charges stem from an alleged incident last May in the prayer room of a house owned by a businessman in Palmiste, San Fernando.
Maharaj, of India, had come to Trinidad on May 15, and had planned to spend a month ministering to followers.
But when he was charged, Magistrate Wellington, presiding in the San Fernando Magistrates' Court, granted bail of TT$50,000, but ordered Maharaj to surrender his passport.
On June 9, defence attorneys Prakash Ramadhar, Jagdeo Singh and Brian Dabideen successfully argued for the swami to be allowed to leave Trinidad to fulfill obligations abroad.
They said more than TT$3 million had already been spent in Canada and Europe by devotees awaiting his arrival.
