Eldon B Mahon United States Courthouse in downtown Fort Worth on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025.
Amanda McCoy
amccoy@star-telegram.com
A jury in U.S. District Court in Fort Worth on Tuesday found a 70-year-old man who immigrated to the United States from India guilty of voting as an alien in a federal election and making a false claim of U.S. citizenship to register to vote.
The jury found Khalwinder Bhengura not guilty of a second count of making a false claim of U.S. citizenship to register to vote.
The central issue at trial was Bhengura’s knowledge and understanding when he prepared voter-registration and Texas Department of Public Safety forms.
Bhengura was born in India and is a citizen of that country. He became a lawful permanent resident of the United States in June 2022. He is not a United States citizen and has never applied to become one, according to an indictment.
In August 2024, Bhengura registered to vote in Tarrant County when he applied for a Texas driver license. He checked boxes on his application indicating that he was a United States citizen.
Based on the information Bhengura provided on a form, his application to register to vote was accepted, and he was successfully registered to vote in Texas, according to the indictment.
On Nov. 5, 2024, Bhengura voted in the general and special elections. He cast his ballot at the East Library and Recreation Center in Arlington.
The charges should not have been brought, and Bhengura does not belong in prison, Mario Herrera, a lawyer who represents Bhengura, wrote in response to an inquiry from a reporter.
“He is a 70-year-old man from India who immigrated lawfully in August 2022 with a green card, together with his family,” Herrera wrote. “He has always needed help with the English language, and he has no other criminal history.”
The case “turned on forms and process that is written and explained in a language he cannot read well and on answers he allegedly made without any proof that a professional interpreter was used,” Herrera wrote.
In an interview conducted by a Homeland Security Investigations special agent in August 2026, Bhengura admitted he was not a citizen, that he knew he was not a citizen and that he had voted in the 2024 election, according to the government. He also said that his vote in 2024 had been “mistaken,” as he said that a friend known only as “Brian” had told him that he could vote. “Brian” supposedly “told [him] to go [to the polling station] and see if they had [his] name or not, so [he] went, and they did. Then [he] voted.”
Bhengura is fluent in English, according to the government. When he was interviewed by the case agent, the interview was conducted in English. Bhengura’s wife helped him to understand a handful of phrases.
“Voting in our national elections is reserved for U.S. citizens,” wrote Ryan Raybould, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, in an assessment of the verdict that was distributed to the press.
“Every unlawful vote undermines the voices of eligible citizens, and this office will hold accountable anyone who undermines our elections,” Raybould wrote. “This verdict reflects the jury’s careful consideration of the evidence and our commitment to protecting the integrity of the electoral process in North Texas.”
Four days before the trial, which began on Friday, Bhengura’s lead lawyer suffered a medical emergency. Nicole Knox, whom the defendant retained, collapsed while at the U.S. Attorney’s Office reviewing grand jury transcripts in the case, according to a motion Herrera filed seeking a continuance that the government did not oppose. Judge Mark Pittman denied the motion.
Knox was released from a hospital before the trial but did not participate in it.
Knox was to be responsible for jury selection, cross-examination of the government’s case agent and principal witnesses, direct examination of Bhengura’s witnesses and closing argument.
The defense will raise the continuance denial in its post-trial motions, according to Herrera. Attorney Vincent Carrizales joined the defense team after Knox’s medical emergency.
In his order denying the continuance, Judge Pittman wrote that the Bhengura matter was a very simple case in which there was a narrow factual dispute: whether Bhengura knowingly claimed citizenship and voted.
The judge wrote that the motion identified no witness, document, or defense that could not be presented without Knox.
“The Court has already had to arrange two Punjabi interpreters for trial, jurors have been summoned, and the Government’s witnesses have been subpoenaed for October 23,” Judge Pittman wrote. “A continuance would require undoing those arrangements and making them again for a date no one can yet name. The right of counsel does not require an open-ended delay.”
Judge Pittman denied a defense request to release Bhengura before sentencing, set for Feb. 11. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matt Capoccia and Colin Duffy opposed release.
Bhengura faces a maximum of five years in prison on the false statements of citizenship in order to register to vote count and a maximum of one year in prison on the voting by an alien in a federal election count. Bhengura will be subject to deportation from the United States after he serves a prison term.
“He is not a danger to anyone. He has no prior arrests and no prior convictions,” Herrera wrote in response to the reporter’s inquiry. “Nothing in this case involved violence or harm to another person. He is not a flight risk. His wife and son are here. They came to this country lawfully, worked hard to build a life here and are living the American dream. He has no intention of leaving them. Keeping him locked up until sentencing and punishing him beyond what we believe the guidelines recommend, would be inhumane and unjustified.”
This story was originally published October 28, 2026 at 8:08 PM.
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Emerson Clarridge covers crime and other breaking news for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He works days and reports on law enforcement affairs in Tarrant County. He previously was a reporter at the Omaha World-Herald and the Observer-Dispatch in Utica, New York.