36 behind the cross

The Harrowing Story of Life Inside Alabama's Most Sadistic Christian Bootcamp By  Art Levine    On 3/2/17 at 8:00 AM EST  It was October 2011, and Captain Charles Kennedy, a veteran policeman, was in the main office at the  Restoration Youth Academy  (RYA), a Christian home for troubled teens in Prichard, Alabama, when he caught a glimpse of something shocking on a close-circuit monitor: a naked boy crouching in a 6-by-8-foot isolation room as a light bulb burned overhead. Kennedy had been waiting for William Knott, the program’s manager, to return with some paperwork, and when he walked back into the office, Kennedy asked about the boy, whose name he later learned was Robert. He wanted to know what the boy had done to deserve such treatment. Knott, a squat, powerfully built ex-sailor, calmly explained his rationale: “He’s got an attitude. He’s only been there for a day, and he’ll be there for another day or two.” “Can’t you give him some clothes...

Swaminarayan Sadhu held for 15-year-old girl’s rape TNN | Nov 29, 2018, 01.22 PM IST Printed from RAJKOT: A Swaminarayan sect monk was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl in Rojid village of Barwala taluka in Botad district. Police said the accused Rushiprasad Dasji (47) had raped her several times at his house where she used to work as a maid three months ago. “After the sexual assaults, the girl left the job. However, Dasji continued to stalk her, asking her to resume her work. On Tuesday, Dasji again stalked her and asked her to come to his house. Tired of this harassment, she narrated the ordeal her parents, who took her to police station and lodged a complaint against Dasji,” said an official from Barwala police station. During interrogation, Dasji told police that he was sacked from a prominent Swaminarayan gaadi 12 years ago and came to Rojid village. Here, he established his own ashram under the name Shri Swaminarayan Ashram, Shri Chhapaiyapuram Trust....

The Bochasanwasi Shree Aksharpurushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), a powerful Gujarat-based sect with followers world over which practises celibacy, ran into some trouble when two of its former sadhus accused the top brass of the sect of sexual assault. The former sadhus, called Sanjay Shah and Rakesh Bhavsar before their initiation, submitted applications at the Ahmedabad police control room Tuesday evening, accusing the now ailing Pramukh Swami, who heads BAPS, and four other top swamis, of alleged assault dating back to the 1970s when they were students at the gurukul. The allegations have been denied by the sect's spokespersons. The Ahmedabad city police transferred the applications to Ahmedabad district police considering the scene of the alleged crime which was claimed to be Sarangpur village. The district police, however, transferred the application to the new district Botad, which now covers Sarangpur village, under the Barwala police station. However, till late Wedne...

Ahmedabad, Feb 15: A priest belonging to Swaminarayan religious sect was today arrested in Gujarat's Junagadh city along with three others following a video expose of sleaze involving sadhus, in a fallout of group rivalry in the sect. "The priest, Bhaktiswarup and three touts were arrested by the Crime Branch late last night under Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act," D G Vanzara, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime), told reporters here today. "The priest has been arrested for women trafficking, while the three accused -- Mansuk Patel alias Mansuk Bhagat, Banubhai Patel alias Banu Bhagat and Takkarsinh Patel – were arrested for making videos of the sexual act and distributing it in form of CDs," Vanzara said. "Several books containing nude photographs of women, a copy of Vatsayana's Kamasutra, condoms, contraceptive pills and sleazy literature were also recovered during the raid at Bhaktiswarup's residence at Junagadh," he added. The...

Ahmedabad, Feb. 15:  After murder in the temple, sex. Sadhus caught on sex CD A sadhu of the famous Junagadh Swaminarayan temple was arrested today for links to an alleged sex scandal as holy men continued to have a bad time, from Tamil Nadu in the south to Gujarat in the west. The additional police commissioner (crime branch), D.G. Vanzara, said the arrest of Bhakti Swaroop and three touts ?could be just the tip of an iceberg?. He added that the touts would take ?married women? to the sadhus for sex. The police believe that more sadhus of the Vadtal sect ? there are several among Swaminarayan devotees ? could get sucked into the scandal. The Vadtal sect is unconnected to the Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar that had become the target of a terrorist attack. On January 29, the crime branch received an anonymous letter from a devotee who said a CD showing four sadhus engaging in sex with women was being sold. The police identified the quartet and one of them was ...

Four held in Swaminarayan sect sex scandal NDTV News (Ahmedabad)/February 15, 2005  Gujarat police's crime branch has arrested four people in the Swaminarayan Sect's Varthal Seat sex scandal. Nearly six months ago, CDs shocked Gujarat showing sadhus from the Swaminarayan sect's Varthal seat having sex with some women. Sadhu arrested On Tuesday, the Gujarat police's crime branch has arrested Swami Bhaktaswaroop, who was one of the sadhus exposed in the sex CDs. Three devotees who had organised the sting operation have also been arrested. They had filmed the CDs to embarrass the sadhus to defeat them in the race to the sub-sect's top post. "These people organised the women who were lured with money and it's through them that they sent the cameras to the sadhus," said D G Vanjara, ACP, Crime Branch, Ahmedabad. Hunt on for seven others But even as the police went to arrest the Junagadh-based sadhu, they found in his possession pornograph...

Priest with Swaminarayan sect held for raping woman TNN | Oct 25, 2018, 10.31 AM IST Printed from SURAT: Priest associated with the Swaminarayan sect, was arrested by Katargam police on Wednesday for allegedly raping a 20-year-old woman. The accused Karan Swami (24) had allegedly raped the woman twice in his quarters within the temple premises in Dabholi area over the past 15 days. Police arrested Swami after the survivor identified him before the police. She had not named the accused at the time of registering her complaint as she did not know his name. Before taking diksha (attaining sainthood) eight years ago the accused was known as Nikunj Sawani. The survivor had survivor approached police on late Tuesday evening after she was raped allegedly by the accused for the second time after assuring financial help for her ailing mother. Police investigation revealed that the survivor’s mother had suffered injury on her hand and needed treatment. Her father too was suffering from s...

Swaminarayan temple priest held in sex scandal February 15, 2005 18:07 IST Last Updated:  February 15, 2005 18:19 IST The priest of a Swaminarayan temple was among four people arrested in Junagadh city of Gujarat in connection with an alleged sex scandal involving the sect. "The priest, Bhaktiswarup, and three touts were arrested by the Crime Branch late last night [Monday night] under the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act," Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) D G Vanzara told reporters in Ahmedabad on Tuesday. "The priest has been arrested for women trafficking, while the other three accused -- Mansuk Patel, alias Mansuk Bhagat, Banubhai Patel, alias Banu Bhagat, and Takkarsinh Patel – have been arrested for making sleazy videos and distributing it in the form of CDs," Vanzara said. "Several books containing nude photographs of women, a copy of Vatsayana's  Kamasutra , condoms, contraceptive pills and sleazy literature were also recovered dur...

BHAVNAGAR: The sadhus of Swaminarayan sect have once again come under the scanner after a woman on Saturday accused three of them of raping her in Gadhada taluka of the district. The complainant, a married woman who is a resident of Ahmedabad, said that she had applied for a job at the Swaminarayan Primary Teachers Training College at Gadhada. The college is run by the Yoganand Swami Seva Samaj Trust. According to the police complaint, the woman said she was asked to come to Gadhada by the college authorities on July 27 last. The three sadhus then raped her inside the college guest room the same day, police said, without clarifying why the complaint had been lodged almost after a month of the alleged crime. The woman accused the sadhus of luring her to Gadhada by promising her a job in the college. No one has been arrested in this connection so far, police said. In October last year, three Swaminarayan sadhus of the Khambha Gurukul of Amreli district were sentenc...

Sugney Swami, aka Neelkanth Patel, is named in a $1 million lawsuit filed by a woman identified only as S.D. who alleges she was raped at her Mississauga temple, the Yogi Divine Society, on Oct. 29, 2015. He was a revered monk from India who insisted the depressed young woman come to a Mississauga temple where he could relieve her suffering with a personal spiritual message he’d received directly from their saint. But when the woman, who can only be identified as S.D., reluctantly arrived at the Yogi Divine Society on Oct. 29, 2015,  she says Sugney Swami had a very different kind of spiritual healing in mind. She claims the monk lured her to a bedroom on the upper floor where he locked the door, confiscated her phone, threw her on his bed and raped her. In her proposed $1 million lawsuit, she’s suing Sugney, aka Neelkanth Patel, for alleged sexual assault, false imprisonment, breach of trust and mental distress as well as the Yogi Divine Soci...