He continued to provide religious training to Sikh children at their homes. It was during one such visit that an 8-year-old girl alleged that he had touched her beneath her underwear during reading of the Guru Granth Sahib, the religion's Scriptures.
The victim's family had been discouraged by fellow Sikhs from filing charges, according to community members. There was concern that the case would bring negative media attention and ridicule to the growing Sikh community in the San Joaquin Valley. The young girl would be marked for life, it was said, a stigma that might hurt her chances to marry.
But the girl's parents went forward with the case and were quickly supported by another family, who alleged that their young son and daughter also had been touched inappropriately by Singh. Hardev Grewal, a court-appointed interpreter, said the evidence against Singh had been strong but he had refused to consider a plea bargain.
"His attorney tried to convince him that, if he takes a deal, he might not die in prison. But he felt it would bring a bad name to him and his family," Grewal said.
"He ended up testifying on his own behalf. I don't know if it was the language or cultural differences, or if he didn't understand the American way of justice. But he ended up performing poorly."
He was convicted and sentenced in June 2001 to 27 years to life. Inmates said he never acclimated to prison. He would clasp his hands in prayer and bow to them and guards, but would grow frustrated at every meal when the prison staff insisted on serving him meat.
The more he protested the food, fellow inmates said, the more insistent staff members became. As a Sikh priest, he viewed any meat on his plate as defiling the vegetables. What food he could eat was often little more than a piece of bread with peanut butter.
"One inmate told us this whole thing is about vegetables. 'If they would have just given him vegetables instead of meat, he would be alive today,' " Romero said. "But every time he was in line, they insisted on slopping down the meat.' "
Santoro said Singh had never followed procedure and formally requested a vegetarian diet through a prison chaplain. But inmates told Romero that Singh lacked the language skills to do so. Besides, he was a priest himself.
The inmates traced his rapid deterioration to an incident in December when a supervising officer grew frustrated with Singh and slammed the cell door on the inmate's hand.
Singh was clearly injured and in pain but the guard, who had treated Singh poorly in the past, wouldn't allow him to seek medical treatment, according to inmate letters. Singh became so fearful that he hardly left his cell after that, they said.
"The other inmates showed a lot of compassion for him. They tried to bring him back food but it was never enough," Romero said. "He became nothing but bones. The inmates filed reports and told counselors about his condition. But nothing was ever done.
"Some of the supervisors at the prison told me this was a case of one inmate falling through the cracks. But this isn't about cracks. This is about the worst kind of neglect."
