A federal investigation into labor trafficking allegations at a Hindu temple in Robbinsville has concluded, allowing a long-delayed civil lawsuit to move forward.

In a Sept. 18 letter to the U.S. District Court in New Jersey, defense attorney Paul J. Fishman informed the court that the Department of Justice had closed its probe into the temple.

The Robbinsville temple is known formally as Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, or BAPS.

Fishman, a former U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, represents the U.S.-based BAPS entities and several individual defendants.

He is a partner at Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer in Newark.

The lawsuit, filed in May 2021, accuses BAPS of subjecting Indian workers to forced labor under the guise of religious volunteerism.

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