A local Sikh who tried to find a wife in India is accused of conspiring with his marriage broker to defraud women by charging them to meet him even though he had no intention of marrying them.

Guru Sant Singh Khalsa said he spent 10 days in jail earlier this year after he was busted in a "sting" by the police and an Indian television news program.

He said in a telephone interview this week that he is free on bail and able to travel around India, but his passport has been seized, and he cannot return to the United States until the case is resolved.

"God gives us these tests," he said.

The 51-year-old California native converted from Christianity to Sikhism 30 years ago, changed his name and moved to Sombrillo, near Española, to be near Yogi Bhajan, the late spiritual leader who in 1972 founded an ashram there that drew hundreds of American converts.

In October, Singh Khalsa went to Amritsar in the northern Indian state of Punjab — his third trip there — for inexpensive dental work. But having recently divorced, he became interested in meeting local women who were raised in traditional Sikh culture.

He said the son of a man who owned his guesthouse referred him to a well-known marriage broker who arranged for him to meet a number of marriageable Sikh women and their families.

"It's not like dating in the U.S.," he said. "Usually, the parents would come, often without the girl. Ninety percent of marriages in India are arranged. It doesn't matter much what the girl thinks."

Singh Khalsa said he paid the broker the equivalent of about $50 up-front, then voluntarily gave him about $100 more for advertising. Unknown to him, he said, the broker also was charging the women and their families about $25 each.

One or two of the dozens of women he met, some as young as 18, were not interested in marrying him, but most were "absolutely ready to marry me" because he is a rich American, although he found no one to his satisfaction, he said.

He asked the broker to send him only English speakers, but most of the women spoke only the native Punjabi. Then on Jan. 12, the broker set him up with a woman who spoke excellent English. But as they spoke, police and television camera crews poured into the broker's office. The woman turned out to be a television reporter for a "sting" operation that was being televised live.

Singh Khalsa and his marriage broker were interrogated by the police, then jailed in an 8-by-10-foot holding cell with walls smeared with excrement and blood, and large rats wandering on the floor. After three days, they were transferred to a city jail that had better conditions, he said.

He said he was released on bail after 10 days, but must show up for various hearings, the next being on Aug. 6. He said the fraud charges against him stem from allegations by some of the women he met that he had reneged on promises to marry them after taking money from them and that he was splitting the fee with the marriage broker charged. None of this is true, he said.

"It's appalling how bad the system is," he said. "There are no rules of evidence, no guarantee of due process. The police have supreme power. ... But I'm innocent. I'm going to clear my name, and I'm not going to pay anyone off."

Singh is no stranger to the U.S. court system. In 1986, he sued the Department of Defense to challenge Army regulations banning long hair, facial hair, turbans and types of jewelry Sikhs wear. The case was eventually dismissed.

In 2005, he sued an Albuquerque man who had banned him from a seminar on blackjack because he thought Singh Khalsa was an uncover agent for Indian casinos. Singh Khalsa, who denied the charge, said he uses card-counting techniques to win at blackjack. The case was dismissed.

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.