A wealthy Internet entrepreneur appeared in San Francisco court Friday for a probation revocation hearing.
Prosecutors want a judge to jail Gurbaksch Chahal for a September 2014 incident in which they said he kicked a woman a dozen times.
The reported victim -- who is now refusing to testify -- told police she met him while she was working at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas.
Several months later, after they had been drinking inside his penthouse, the woman said Chahal got angry over her treatment of his security staff. She told police that the attack left her with two bruises.
After the incident, she said he threatened to report her to immigration if she went to authorities.
The incident came just five months after a judge threw out a video tape prosecutors said showed Chahal hitting another woman more than 100 times.
In that case, the court ruled that the video was not legally seized by police. As a result, Chahal was out on probation for a misdemeanor battery conviction at the time of the penthouse attack.
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Before Friday's hearing, members of the Sikh community accused prosecutors of going overboard and called Chahal a prominent leader who has provided jobs to the community.
Bob Dhillon, general secretary of the Sikh Temple, said Chahal should not be punished because the earlier case fell apart due to a legal technicality.
"If something is wrong with our justice system, that justice system has to be the problem (and) not continue to pursue Chahal," Dhillon said.
But domestic violence victim advocates said Chahal must be held accountable
"We understand that they are coming to show their support," said Beverly Upton with the San Francisco Domestic Violence Consortium. "But so many other Sikh organizations are questioning whether he is accountable."
The judge in the case will be hearing more testimony in coming days before she decides whether there is enough evidence to revoke Chahal's probation.
