A leading Hindu sect is accused of forcing hundreds of workers from lower castes in India to work in brutal conditions for virtually no money at temples being constructed in cities across the United States.

Nongovernmental lawyers representing 17 of the workers, including four who died in the days after leaving the job sites, sued the sect, known as BAPS, in a New Jersey federal court, the New York Times reported Thursday. The complaint was originally filed in May and amended in October. It states that BAPS leaders tricked the workers into traveling across the globe to build temples outside cities including Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles.