HOUSTON, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- A judge has reduced the bail of an Indian man arrested for carrying brass knuckles and suspected Islamic jihad literature in a Houston airport, officials said.
Vijay Kumar, a documentary filmmaker from India, was in Houston to lecture a Hindu organization about Islamic fundamentalism, and the books packed in his checked luggage were educational tools, authorities and his lawyer said.
State District Judge David Mendoza lowered Kumar's bail from $50,000 to $5,000 after being given details about the case and after prosecutors said they were willing to let him plead to time served for unlawfully carrying a weapon in an airport, the Houston Chronicle reported Monday.
Kumar has surrendered his passport while he considers the bail offer, not wanting a criminal record to interfere next time he visits the United States, his attorney Grant Scheiner said.
"I think that everybody realized that he is not a threat. He's a peaceful man," Scheiner said. "He was here to visit the Hindu Congress of America, to deliver a lecture. It was about an interfaith discussion between Hindus and Muslims about the harms of terrorism."
Kumar was arrested after screeners thought they saw a possible handgun in a scan of Kumar's baggage and an explosives residue test showed a false positive for Kumar's baggage, officials said.
Investigators found the brass knuckles, a manual for a handgun and Islamic literature in Kumar's checked luggage.
Kumar carries the brass knuckles for protection in India, Scheiner said.
