Who is 'Buddha Boy', the Nepalese spiritual guru arrested on charges of raping a minor?

In a shocking development, a controversial Nepalese spiritual leader known as “Buddha Boy” was arrested Tuesday on charges of raping a minor.

He is also allegedly involved in the disappearance of at least four of his followers—two men and two women—from his camp, police said on Wednesday.

The 33-year-old had been on the run “for several years” and was arrested from a suburb of Kathmandu.

Here’s all we know about him.

Who is “Buddha Boy”?

Ram Bahadur Bomjan, also known as “Buddha Boy” among devotees, is believed by many Nepalese to be the reincarnation of Siddhartha Gautama, who was born in southwestern Nepal some 2,600 years ago.

He made international headlines in 2005 at the age of 15 after his followers said he could meditate motionless without any water, food, or sleep for months. He drew more than 100,000 people to the dense forests of south-eastern Nepal to see him sitting cross-legged beneath a tree, according to Reuters.

As per GQ magazine, he was allegedly bitten by poisonous snakes twice; however, he’d “refused medicine and cured himself via meditation.” Skeptics believe he was “being fed at night behind a curtain, that he was building himself a temple and his parents were building themselves a man.”

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At the age of 16, Bamjan disappeared for nine months to wander the wilderness of eastern Nepal, prompting a round-the-clock vigil by Buddhist monks who prayed for his safe return, as per AFP.

About two years later, according to CNN, which cited his website, Bamjam began preaching, attracting an audience of approximately 3,000 people during his first sermon. He and his supporters used his popularity to set up a network of ashrams around Nepal dedicated to his teachings.

The arrest

The 33-year-old guru has a devout following but has long been dogged by allegations of wrongdoing. He had been hiding from the authorities for several years.

Bamjan was arrested late Tuesday from his house in Budhanilkantha, a suburb of Kathmandu, the country’s capital, police spokesperson Kuber Kadayat told AFP.

“Our team arrested him while he was trying to escape by jumping from the window of the house,” the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) said in a statement, according to Reuters.

An arrest warrant was issued against him for the alleged rape of a minor at an ashram in Sarlahi, a district south of the capital.

According to AFP, the police said he was caught with bundles of cash amounting to 30 million Nepali rupees ($225,000) and another $22,500 in foreign currency.

The allegations against him

Accusations of abuse and misconduct against Bomjan stretch back more than a decade.

Dozens of assault complaints were filed against him in 2010. He said he beat the victims because they disturbed his meditation, the report said.

An 18-year-old nun accused the guru of raping her at a monastery in 2018.

According to ANI, the chargesheet says the incident took place at the ashram in Sarlahi’s Pattharkot region on 4 August 2016. The minor (aged 15 at the time) stated that she kept it hidden after receiving threats from Bamjam to not relay the incident to others, otherwise would face consequences.

Soon after the filing of the complaint, the police opened another investigation against him after family members reported the disappearance of four of his devotees from one of his ashrams.

In June 2020, a joint team from CIB, Bagmati Provincial Police, and District Police offices in Kavre, Sindhupalchowk, and Sarlahi raided his ashram in Sindhuli’s Pairey but could not locate him.

The whereabouts of the four, who have been missing since 2017, are still unknown, Dinesh Acharya of the CIB told reporters on Wednesday.

“Unless we know what situation the missing are in, we are not in a position to call it murder,” he said.

CIB spokesperson Nawaraj Adhikari said Bamjan would be sent to Sarlahi district court, which had also issued an arrest warrant for him.

Meanwhile, the Bodhi Shrawan Dharma Sangha, an organisation associated with Bamjam, recently claimed fresh allegations made by a local website were baseless. Setopati.com published reports detailing alleged cases of disappearances, sexual assault, and violence in Bamjam’s ashrams.

With inputs from agencies