San Francisco: An Indian-origin Silicon Valley internet mogul who sold his startup for USD 300 million at the age of 25 and appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” as a highly eligible bachelor has been sentenced to a year in jail for violating his probation in a domestic violence case.
However, Gurbaksh Chahal, 34, will not immediately begin serving the sentence because San Francisco Superior Court Judge Tracie Brown cited questions about the evidence while giving him time to appeal her ruling.
Brown determined last month that Chahal had violated the probation ordered after he pleaded guilty in 2014 to misdemeanor charges of battery and domestic violence battery. Prosecutors said surveillance footage from his San Francisco penthouse showed him punching and kicking his girlfriend more than 100 times and trying to smother her with a pillow. Chahal entered his plea to the reduced charges after the woman stopped cooperating with authorities and a judge said the video could not be used as evidence because it had been improperly obtained. He was accused of violating his probation by kicking another girlfriend, who also didn’t cooperate with prosecutors. Chahal said both women had cheated on him, according to prosecutors.
Chahal’s attorney, James Lassart, said in court that his client was denied his right to question the woman during his probation revocation hearing when she failed to attend the proceeding. “In this instance, the constitution requires that my client be allowed to confront his accuser,” Lassart said.
Brown allowed the penthouse video to be admitted as evidence in the probation hearing, and she reviewed it privately before issuing her ruling last month. Lassart said the judge should not consider the video in her sentencing because it had previously been ruled inadmissible.
The footage has not been played in court or made public. Assistant District Attorney O’Bryan Kenney called for a sentence of 18 months, saying Chahal had shown no remorse and committed a second act of violence just months after his domestic violence conviction. “He clearly didn’t get the message,” Kenney told the judge. Chahal made USD 300 million in 2007 when he sold his digital advertising company to Yahoo. A year later, he appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in a segment that highlighted his success and promoted him as a highly eligible bachelor. –
