HPD arrest log showing an entry for Batarti Das Gabbard, age 55, arrested July 16, 2026, charged with Theft 4 under HRS 708-0833.
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Tulsi Gabbard’s Brother Was Arrested After Allegedly Offering Children Gum and Money at a Hawaii Resort Pool and Inviting Them to His Room

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Witnesses say the 55-year-old wrote the kids’ names in a notebook before walking off when they refused to go with him. His own father says he was in the middle of a mental health episode.

Batarti "Bhakti" Gabbard, brother of Tulsi Gabbard
Batarti “Bhakti” Gabbard, 55, the brother of former DNI Tulsi Gabbard, was taken into custody at a Waikīkī hotel after a reported stranger danger incident involving children at a resort pool. Photo by MEGA.

Batarti Gabbard, 55, approached a group of children including a 9-year-old boy at a Waikiki hotel pool around 2 p.m. Friday, offering them gum and money and inviting them back to his room, according to Honolulu police.

Batarti "Bhakti" Gabbard, brother of Tulsi Gabbard
Batarti “Bhakti” Gabbard, 55, was taken into custody at a Waikīkī hotel after a reported “stranger danger” incident involving children at the pool. Photo by MEGA.

He also asked the kids their names and wrote them in a notebook, witnesses told HPD. The children refused, and he walked away.

Tulsi Gabbard standing in the Oval Office during a White House event with UFC fighters
Tulsi Gabbard, serving as Director of National Intelligence, looks on at a White House Oval Office event featuring UFC fighters on May 6, 2026. Photo by Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images.

Police arrested and charged him with custodial interference in the second degree. Batarti, who also goes by Bhakti (meaning “devotion”), is the eldest of the five Gabbard siblings and the older brother of Tulsi Gabbard, the former national intelligence director and former Hawaii congresswoman. The other siblings are Jai, Narayan, and Vrindavan, a deputy U.S. Marshal.

The family has longstanding ties to the Science of Identity Foundation, a Vaishnava Hindu group founded by Chris Butler and rooted in the Hare Krishna tradition. Parents Mike and Carol Gabbard got involved after moving to Hawaii in the 1970s and gave their children Hindu names reflecting that background. Former members have described the group as cult-like, with claims of control and isolation; the organization and the family have disputed that.

This isn’t Batarti’s first arrest. In May 2013, he was booked into the Las Vegas Detention Center on suspicion of battery, following multiple prior arrests in Clark County, Nevada that included drug-possession charges. Sen. Mike Gabbard said at the time that the family was “deeply pained and heartbroken,” loved their son, and were encouraging him to seek medical treatment.

He echoed that this week. Their father, state Sen. Mike Gabbard, told Hawaii News Now that his son has been on drugs and was suffering a mental health episode. The lawmaker, who represents Kapolei, Makakilo, Ewa, and Ko Olina, said Batarti was admitted to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation Friday afternoon.

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