This has to do with an F.I.R. filed by one Atindra Jain, against Harbhajan Singh Chopra in Ghazibad, U.P. Mr. Chopra is a 78 year old british national, who was arrested on Tuesday, February 8th in Goa. Upon examining the contents of the F.I.R., it seems that the required due dilligence was NOT carried out by the Ghaziabad Police.

This entire FIR seems to be glued together with the sworn testimony of the witness Mr. Meharban Singh Sodhi. Now who is this Meharban Singh Sodhi? Is he even Meherban Singh Sodhi or is he actually a Mr. Resham Singh Bains, who happens to be a british national, currently residing at 85 Kailash Hills, New Delhi. We don’t really know whether his real name is Meherban Singh Sodhi or Resham Singh Bains. Hence, how can such a witness have any kind of credibility when he happens to be a person of least amount of credibility?

Whatever the person’s real name is, the fact is, that he last landed in India on a british passport (number 301674642, issued on June 30, 2002) issued in the name of Mr. Reshm SIngh Bains. Mr. Bains (or Mr. Sodhi) resides at the above mentioned address and also happens to posses an Indian passport. The pictures on both the passports are a perfect likeness of the same person.

The fact of the matter is, that Meherban SIngh/Resham Singh is a career criminal and has committed multiple frauds in India and in several other countries. He has been travelling on a the above passport, in which has has stolen the identity of legitimate british national, who may or may not even be currently alive. Resham Singh Bains is currently wanted in the U.K., by the Fraud Office of the U.K. Government.

Another criminal Mr. Davinder Sharma, alais Garner who happens to be a well know underworld character, surprisingly accompanied the Ghazibad Police to Goa, in oder to arrest the 78 year old Mr. Chopra. They even made sure that Mr. Chopra’s dramatic arrest was captured on camera and video and the major news media was promptly informed of the arrest. Davinder Sharma was seen on tv, accompanying the Ghazibad Police at the secene of Mr. Chopra’s arrest and subsequently, in the Goa court, where Mr. Chopra was brought. What Ghaziabad Police failed to investigate was that the Chopra family had filed a lawsuit against Davinder Sharma in December 2008, for extortion and harrassment. Mr. Chopra’s arrest was a retaliatory act by Devendra Sharma, to get even with the Chopra for having filed the lawsuit against them. The actual complainant Atindra Jain never ever met with any member of the Chopra family and hence, there was no question of him ever having loaned any money to them.

A very important fact to be noted here is that Resham Singh was an employee of Gurvinder Chopra in in London, U.K. and was subsequently brought to India to work for him over there, as his driver. It was then, that that Gurvinder Chopra found out that Resham SIngh’s real name is not Rashm Singh Bains, but is Meharban Singh Sodhi and that Meharban Singh stole the identity of one Mr. Resham Singh Bains in the U.K. and obtained a passport in his name, but with his own picture. At that point, Gurvinder Chopra dismissed Meharban Singh. Further, Gurvinder Chopra found out that Meharban Singh had stolen several of his belongings, including the check book mentioned in the Atinder Jain, F.I.R.. Somewhere along, Maherban Singh got in touch with Davinder Sharma (who happened to be an adverary of Gurvinder Chopra) and colluded with him plan this entire F.I.R. Atindra Jain is merely a decoy of Davinder Sharma and he never ever met with any member of the Chopra family.

Davinder Sharma bribed several officials and members of the Ghaziabad Police, in order to achieve his agenda. In reply to the Chopra family’s extortion case against Davinder Sharma, he gave a sworn statement to the Delhi Police Crime Brand Division in Sunlight Colony that he had given Rs. 60 crores to the Chopra family, in cash, as a loan. The Chopra family denied those allegations, but Davinder Sharma never got arrested against the Chopra family’s complaint. Since he is a well-known underworld operator, the police would never touch him, due the the power and the connections that he has. He several charges pending agianst him in the Crime Branch Speciall Cell at the Sunlight Colony Police Station, in New Delhi. Those charges include murder, extortion and criminal conspiracy. It is very strange that when Davinder Sharma claimed in his statement with the police that he loaned the alleged amount of Rs. 60 crore in cash to the Chopra family, they never tried to find out where Davinder Sharma got such a huge amount of cash from. Rs. 60 crore is an extremely large sum of money, especially in cash form. He should have been investigated by the Income Tax Department, to reveal the sources of such huge sum of money and whether or not, has has paid any income taxes against that money.

After Asaram Bapu, more allegations have surfaced against Kripalu Maharaj. A person who goes by the name of ‘insider’ for the fear of his life, has sent in the following note:
“I was an insider (I mean a real insider) in Kripalu Maharajji’s organization. I was extremely devoted to him and to his organization and had many spiritual experiences and great spiritual insights. I later found out that spiritual experiences arise out of your own sincerity and efforts and have nothing to do with the so-called guru or teacher. After all, God or Krishna (call him what you will) is still there, and He responds to sincere seekers regardless of how big a fraud the teacher is.

My heart was broken and I was annihilated when slowly but surely, the fraudulent nature of Kripalu Maharajji’s mission became known to me. There were many, many examples of corruption of the mission that came before me, before I took the extremely difficult step of renouncing this teacher and organization. I could write a book on this, but I’ll simply sum-up some key points for those of you that have an open mind on such things. Trust me (actually trust yourself), without willingness to stand-up for the truth, you will never get anywhere spiritually.

1. Kripalu Maharaj definitely has an obsession with sex, although he teaches others that there is no ‘anand’ in this world. There have been many instances of very creditable reports and charges against him. Most of these are from very good and sincere people that are bastions of the community and really sincere to God. However, modesty, embarrassment and the fear of a powerful organization that could hurt makes them hesitate to speak out. The father of the girls from Nagpur that took the case against him all the way to the Indian Supreme Court was a rare and very brave exception. This father could have settled easily for large amounts of money that Kripalu’s organization would have been too willing to pay to end this case. That he and his daughters fought and are still fighting for justice shows that they are not motivated by money or fame. They just want justice!

2. This is how it works today. To sit in Maharajjis presence, to touch his feet, to have coffee with him, to drink charanamrit and even to be hit by his slippers means that there is a charge. They call it ’seva,’ but basically nothing is free. Have a chappal hit you and enjoy the ‘grace’ of ‘chappal seva, ‘ then pay $100 for the privilege!

3. However, there is one special ’seva’ open only to women. A secret ’seva’ called ‘charan seva’ that is free. For this, Maharajji’s preachers take all the unknowing women into the room where Maharajji is lying on his bed. The lights are dimmed and the women surround him and press his body. The most attractive women are positioned around his pillow and within reach of his hands. The lights are then turned-out completely, giving Maharajji the chance to grope the pretty women close to him. If they do not pull back, they are invited to stay behind!!

4. Maharajji’s children and grand-children often travel with him at the cost of ‘devotees’ donations. Their slightest wishes, no matter how materialistic are again fulfilled at ‘devotees’ expense. Huge sums of money are raised through ’sevas’ with little if any accounting of where it goes while no expense is spared for the ‘divine family.’ Any spiritual person can tell that this family is quite materialistic and have no spiritual virtues. Maharajji himself is driven around India in a Mercedes.

5. Brainwashing is accomplished by telling ‘devotees’ to not read or listen to any other teachings and to limit their association with only ‘devotees.’ Maharajji wears special scents to create the impression that his body exudes divine fragrances and the entire field of senses is used to create the aura of divinity. His publicity department is the most professional and his preachers claim that he is the most divine descention ever, greater even than Krishna or Rama!

6. In Trinidad, Maharajji’s organization is called Radha Madhav society. It’s head in Trinidad is called Didiji. She is yet another fraud whose last organization in Oklahoma had to be shut down because of many sexual allegations against her and her relationship with Kripalu Maharaj. Even her web-site was erased so that nothing embarrassing about her would come out.

Does this organization do any good? Well yes, probably the hospitals in India (I think) do some good and if ‘devotees’ use the temples of this organization only to help in their own search for God they are indeed benefited (once again, because of their own sincerity and efforts). But if you get too close, your pockets will get picked and your efforts towards God will be changed to efforts for and only for Maharajji. Also, please keep your women out of his room!

Is this organization uniquely corrupt? Oh no! All Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, Jewish, Parsi etc organizations are corrupt to a large degree. Buddha said that ‘I point out the moon to you and you turn around and worship my finger!’ As soon as the truth is spoken, the followers start corrupting. But in this case, this has gone much too far and too many wonderful, well meaning people who have given everything for God have been badly hurt! Have no fear of speaking out! See how bravely the woman from Guyana has spoken, and earlier how bravely the father and girls from Nagpur have too! Please do not further victimize these victims by saying that they want publicity or want to strike a deal. These are great, brave women whom I salute!

God cannot be separate from the truth, and the truth is that Maharajji is a fallen saint (not an eternal one). There is no joy in saying this, but rather sadness. It is a sacred duty to truth and dharma.”

There are also other numerous stories around him that exist on the net. I think its time when Kripalu talks to these in an open platform and resolve the differences.

Sri Sri Ravishankar Ashram

Hot off the tip line: a former Art of Living teacher explains why he found Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s incessant plotting for ever-increasing amounts of money and fame to be nothing more than a sick cult-propagation scam:

Dear Guruji, fellow teachers and volunteers,

My name is [redacted] and I am an Art of Living teacher in [redacted], USA. I have been involved with Art of Living since 2002 and became a teacher at the Canadian Ashram in the summer of 2005.

I am writing to you today to say that I can no longer sincerely continue as a representative of the Art of Living organization. The reason is simply that I am not inspired by the organization any more. I do not connect with, do not agree with and cannot support in the future:

1) the increasing corporization of the Art of Living organization

2) the intensifying promotional push on all fronts

3) the increasing course fees making it so difficult for many people who need help to participate in programs

4) the pressure on participants in AOL to raise and donate funds

5) the hype and myth creation used for indoctrination

6) the effective undermining of people’s self-trust and making them dependent in an infantile way on idealized images of the guru and his special abilities, and a perception of inferiority relative to him

7) the misrepresentation of the placebo effect as the result of the speciality and uniqueness of the practices or the grace of a person

the ongoing emphasis on specialness of the organization’s leader and his omniscience

9) the resultant cultish atmosphere within AOL and the possibilities for manipulation of all sorts

10) the focus on organization growth and perpetuation rather than the advancement of the people involved and deeper self-inquiry

11) the lack of transparency and accountability for the use of funds, projects implemented, etc.

12) the organization’s acting increasingly like a business in the guise of a non-profit

13) the frivolous use of exaggeration and misrepresentation of facts in promotional efforts (as to the scale of humanitarian efforts or the scientific evidence for the benefits of the practices, for example)

14) the conflict between encouraging people to donate a dollar a day to support poor children, etc. and staying in the presidential suites at expensive hotels (e.g. Ritz-Carlton), flying first class, etc.

The list can continue, but there is no point in that. The fact is that I no longer feel I can stand behind the Art of Living Foundation and its efforts. There is an inherent conflict between my perceptions of the organization and its real goals, and my position as its representative. Therefore, I resign from this position with relief.

I do not regret any of the past, but I feel I need to continue my path outside of the confines of Art of Living. I am grateful for my experiences with the organization in the last few years, but I cannot sincerely invite people I care about into it in the future.

If I am making any errors in my assessment, they are solely my responsibility and I am ready to face the consequences of such errors. I realize that this message may create some discomfort somewhere and may generate passionate reaction. I am also aware how the points I am making above can readily be explained away with references to my ego, ignorance, lack of commitment, wrong priorities, etc. All that is fine. Things be as they may, the fact is that this is how I feel currently and this is the action my heart propels me to do. That is the same heart that brought me into Art of Living in the first place. I have nothing else to trust.

Why am I doing this in such a public way then? Because that is what my conscience is telling me to do. Because there may me others who may feel this way but feel compelled to follow the party line at the expense of severe internal conflict. Perhaps this can help them feel not alone or afraid to speak out. Perhaps eventually this may help put AOL back on track – yes, in my perception of what the track should be, but I have nothing else to go by but my perception. As do all of us.

Color us wildly and self-righteously justified in bringing you the truth: the Art of Living org is nothing more than a cult scam, and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is the lowest form of fame-whoring fauxru known to the modern world at this time.

Is it really Art of Living or is it Art of Lying? or Leaving?

Sri Sri 420? Quite likely

Mumbai police officers stand on a roughly made watchtower near the Gateway of India monument on New Year’s Eve, 2008

Disrepair of Police Forces and Lack of Accountability Contribute to Rights Violations

The Indian government should take major steps to overhaul a policing system that facilitates and even encourages human rights violations, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. For decades, successive governments have failed to deliver on promises to hold the police accountable for abuses and to build professional, rights-respecting police forces.

The 118-page report, “Broken System: Dysfunction, Abuse and Impunity in the Indian Police,” documents a range of human rights violations committed by police, including arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and extrajudicial killings. The report is based on interviews with more than 80 police officers of varying ranks, 60 victims of police abuses, and numerous discussions with experts and civil society activists. It documents the failings of state police forces that operate outside the law, lack sufficient ethical and professional standards, are overstretched and outmatched by criminal elements, and unable to cope with increasing demands and public expectations. Field research was conducted in 19 police stations in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, and the capital, Delhi.

“India is modernizing rapidly, but the police continue to use their old methods: abuse and threats,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “It’s time for the government to stop talking about reform and fix the system.”

A fruit vendor in Varanasi described how police tortured him to extract confessions to multiple, unrelated false charges:

“[M]y hands and legs were tied; a wooden stick was passed through my legs. They started beating me badly on the legs with lathis (batons) and kicking me. They were saying, ‘You must name all the members of the 13-person gang.’ They beat me until I was crying and shouting for help. When I was almost fainting, they stopped the beating. A constable said, ‘With this kind of a beating, a ghost would run away. Why won’t you tell me what I want to know?’ Then they turned me upside down… They poured water from a plastic jug into my mouth and nose, and I fainted.”

Read additional accounts from victims of police abuse.

Several police officers admitted to Human Rights Watch that they routinely committed abuses. One officer said that he had been ordered to commit an “encounter killing,” as the practice of taking into custody and extra-judicially executing an individual is commonly known. “I am looking for my target,” the officer said. “I will eliminate him. … I fear being put in jail, but if I don’t do it, I’ll lose my position.”

Almost every police officer interviewed by Human Rights Watch was aware of the boundaries of the law, but many believed that unlawful methods, including illegal detention and torture, were necessary tactics of crime investigation and law enforcement.

The Indian government elected in May has promised to pursue police reforms actively. Human Rights Watch said that a critical step is to ensure that police officers who commit human rights violations, regardless of rank, will face appropriate punishment.

“Police who commit or order torture and other abuses need to be treated as the criminals they are,” said Adams. “There shouldn’t be one standard for police who violate the law and another for average citizens.”

Human Rights Watch also said that while not excusing abuses, abysmal conditions for police officers contribute to violations. Low-ranking officers often work in difficult conditions. They are required to be on-call 24 hours a day, every day. Instead of shifts, many work long hours, sometimes living in tents or filthy barracks at the police station. Many are separated from their families for long stretches of time. They often lack necessary equipment, including vehicles, mobile phones, investigative tools and even paper on which to record complaints and make notes.

Police officers told Human Rights Watch that they used “short-cuts” to cope with overwhelming workloads and insufficient resources. For instance, they described how they or others cut caseloads by refusing to register crime complaints. Many officers described facing unrealistic pressure from their superiors to solve cases quickly. Receiving little or no encouragement to collect forensic evidence and witness statements, tactics considered time-consuming, they instead held suspects illegally and coerced them to confess, frequently using torture and ill-treatment.

“Conditions and incentives for police officers need to change,” Adams said. “Officers should not be put into a position where they think they have to turn to abuse to meet superiors’ demands, or obey orders to abuse. Instead they should be given the resources, training, equipment, and encouragement to act professionally and ethically.”

“Broken System” also documents the particular vulnerability to police abuse of traditionally marginalized groups in India. They include the poor, women, Dalits (so-called “untouchables”), and religious and sexual minorities. Police often fail to investigate crimes against them because of discrimination, the victims’ inability to pay bribes, or their lack of social status or political connections. Members of these groups are also more vulnerable to arbitrary arrest and torture, especially meted out by police as punishment for alleged crimes.

Colonial-era police laws enable state and local politicians to interfere routinely in police operations, sometimes directing police officers to drop investigations against people with political connections, including known criminals, and to harass or file false charges against political opponents. These practices corrode public confidence.

In 2006, a landmark Supreme Court judgment mandated reform of police laws. But the central government and most state governments have either significantly or completely failed to implement the court’s order, suggesting that officials have yet to accept the urgency of comprehensive police reform, including the need to hold police accountable for human rights violations.

“India’s status as the world’s largest democracy is undermined by a police force that thinks it is above the law,” said Adams. “It’s a vicious cycle. Indians avoid contact with the police out of fear. So crimes go unreported and unpunished, and the police can’t get the cooperation they need from the public to prevent and solve crimes.”

“Broken System” sets out detailed recommendations for police reform drawn from studies by government commissions, former Indian police, and Indian groups. Among the major recommendations are:

• Require the police to read suspects their rights upon arrest or any detention, which will increase institutional acceptance of these safeguards;
• Exclude from court any evidence police obtain by using torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment in suspect interrogations;
• Bolster independent investigations into complaints of police abuse and misconduct through national and state human rights commissions and police complaints authorities; and
• Improve training and equipment, including strengthening the crime-investigation curriculum at police academies, training low-ranking officers to assist in crime investigations, and providing basic forensic equipment to every police officer.

Selected Accounts from ‘Broken System’

“She was kept in the police station all night. In the morning, when we went to meet her, they said she had killed herself. They showed us her body, where she was hanging from a tree inside the police station. The branch was so low, it is impossible that she hanged herself from it. Her feet were clean, although there was wet mud all around and she would have walked through it to reach the tree. It is obvious that the police killed her and then pretended she had committed suicide.”

- Brother-in-law of Gita Pasi, describing her death in police custody in Uttar Pradesh in August 2006

“We have no time to think, no time to sleep. I tell my men that a victim will only come to the police station because we can give him justice, so we should not beat him with a stick. But often the men are tired and irritable and mistakes take place.”

- Gangaram Azad, a sub-inspector who heads a rural police station in Uttar Pradesh state

“They say, ‘investigate within 24 hours,’ but they never care about how I will do [that]; what are the resources. … There is use of force in sensational cases because we are not equipped with scientific methods. What remains with us? A sense of panic surrounds our mind that if we don’t come to a conclusion we will be suspended or face punishment. We are bound to fulfill the case, we must cover the facts in any way.”

- Subinspector working near Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh

“Often, it is our superiors who ask us to do wrong things. It is hard for us to resist. I remember, one time, my officer had asked me to beat up someone. I said that the man would be refused bail and would rot in jail and that was enough punishment. But that made my officer angry.”

- Constable in Uttar Pradesh

“With all the mental stress, the 24-hour law-and-order duty, the political pressure, a person may turn to violence. How much can a person take? … We have to keep watch on an accused person, their human rights, but what about us? Living like this 24 hours. We are not claiming that our power makes us born to work all the times. Sometimes we beat or detain illegally, because our working conditions, our facilities are bad. So we are contributing to creating criminals, militants.”

- Inspector in charge of a police station in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh

MUCH VICE AT THE SEAT OF VIRTUEGurmeet Singh came to be the current Dera head with a Khalistan leader’s help and has amassed a fortune ever since

Not so benign: Singh is married with three children but devotees have to practise celibacy

Founded in 1948, the Dera now controls over 700 acres in Sirsa, its seat in Haryana, and has almost 2.5 crore(this is proved to be wrong see my article ) followers

The year is 1990 and Punjab is in the grip of militancy. Gurmeet Singh, a 23-year-old Jat Sikh from a family of landlords in Gursomondia village in Rajasthan’s Ganganagar district, takes over the gaddi at the Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa. His taking over of the dera from Param Pita Shah Satnam Singh Ji Maharaj, a Khatri Sikh, is at the outset shrouded in taint. Gurmeet Singh is a close associate of the dreaded militant, Gurjant Singh Rajasthani, of the Khalistan Liberation Force. Sirsa is agog with hushed talk of the ouster of Satnam Singh by Rajasthani. That sets the tone for an expansion of the Dera’s fortunes and of Gurmeet, who takes on the title of ‘Hazoor Maharaj Sant Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’.

Since its modest foundation in 1948 by Mastanji of Baluchistan, the Dera now controls over 700 acres in Sirsa alone. It commands over 2.5 crore followers(this is proved to be wrong see my article ) and has branches all over the region. Sirsa is now an independent township replete with factories, a cricket stadium and swimming pools. But villagers had not been willing to sell land to the expanding Dera. “Coercion was employed,” says Ashwani Bakhshi, a Sirsa lawyer practising in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. “For example, thousands of devotees would use the fields to defecate, forcing the villagers to sell off their land. In one instance, a child of a neighbouring village was crushed by a Dera truck. When the irate villagers seized the truck, thousands of devotees descended upon the villagers and beat them up. It was not uncommon to see reports of dead bodies being found in the Dera’s vicinity.”

Free labour from devotees and a directive to buy goods only from the Dera’s factories laid the economic foundation. “During the OP Chautala government, the Dera got the tender to build the road from Sirsa to the Dera. Women devotees, coming from affluent households and who may never have lifted a stone in their lives, were made to build the road. The money from the road contract was seized by the Dera’s management. The Dera also indulges in the business of cotton seeds and fetilisers but pays no taxes. It is immune to the law. One can see the origins of this cult in the takeover of the Dera by Gurmeet Singh after his relative, the militant Gurjant Singh Rajasthani threatened the previous Dera head with a revolver,” Anshul Chhatarpati, a Sirsa journalist, told Tehelka. Anshul’s father, Ram Chandar, was killed by Dera functionaries in 2002 according to the cbi’s chargesheet.

Lakhs of devotees throng the Dera. The new ‘Santji’ has discarded the simplicity of his predecessors and dons fancy robes. Politicians queue up to seek the votes of Santji’s ‘premis’. “On Santji’s brithday, the streets of Sirsa are crowded with lakhs and lakhs of devotees. I make it a point to visit the Santji. I have also attended the marriage of Santji’s daughter to Punjab Congress mla HS Jassi’s son,” says Dirba Kalan’s Congress mla Bharat Singh Beniwal. Apart from Beniwal, many of the region’s political heavyweights, such as Amarinder Singh, Parkash Singh Badal and OP Chautala, have visited Santji in the past. While Santji is married and has three children, the resident devotees at the Dera are directed to practise celibacy.

Under the watchful eye of a private army, silence and fear shroud the Dera. There is such an atmosphere of secrecy that the Sirsa District and Sessions Judge could not make much headway on a probe ordered by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2002 on allegations of sexual exploitation of sadhvis by the Santji. In his report submitted to the High Court on September 11, 2002, the Sessions Judge noted: “As regards the sexual abuse of girls in the Dera, nobody in the Dera is prepared to disclose anything in this respect. There is no access to the hostel where the sadhvis reside without prior permission of Baba Gurmeet Singh or the Dera authorities.”

Major allegations

The most damaging allegation as yet on Baba Ram Rahim is of a female follower’s letter anonymously sent to Prime Minister, President, Chief Minister of Punjab (India) and Haryana and to session judge of Punjab (India) and Haryana High Court and Supreme Court and a DGP of Police in 2002. It claimed that Baba Ram Rahim had allegedly raped her and at least 50 more female followers in the Dera Sacha Sauda premises. – After the publication of this letter in a newspaper the editor of the News Paper “Pura Sach”, Ram Chandra Chatrapati was murdered. – The case was then handed over to CBI to investigate further. – And after the CBI there was another murder of a Dera Follower Ranjit Singh. His father also complained in the courts that Baba Ram Raheem was directly involved in the murder. So the CBI included the murder of Ranjit Singh into its ongoing investigations. – The case then moved on in a snail pace; only after the dera and sikh community clash did the high court order the CBI to submit its report on 31 July 2007 by all means. -This report has been submitted and CBI has framed Babba Ram Raheem and has not given him clean chit , it means CBI has found him guilty. The CBI will release its details on 1st August and will produce all the evidence collected to the court on 31 August.

In October 2007, Baba Ram Raheem got an interim bail in murder, rape cases by a Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court.

A recent issue of Outlook had a cover story on Koda, the former Chief Minister of Jharkhand, who is alleged to have looted Rs 4,000 crore from the state. A related article in the magazine was on all the scams that have taken place in India and how little we seem to care about all those stories on corruption.

The Reddy brothers, YSR’s family, Koda, Raja – these are just the latest additions. They are the tip of the iceberg. For the record, all of them get away with the loot, and continue to be in positions of influence. Indeed, I cannot think of a single politician who has put behind bars for corruption.

This is a cancer that is not restricted to any particular political party. It infects the whole system. An honest politician has become an oxymoron.

Politics has become a way – and perhaps the only way in India today – to amass unimaginable wealth in the shortest possible of time. Of course, entry to the club is becoming increasingly difficult because politicians have realised that getting one or more of their offsprings into politics is the surest way of ensuring the ill-gotten wealth stays. The façade of ‘youth’ is being used to legitimise power and money procured by dubious means.

We, the voters of the country, are as much to blame. We don’t demand accountability. We keep voting back to power the same folks who keep ripping us off. And in all this, we stay a poor country – waiting forever for the date with destiny.

Rajendra Shekhawat campaigning in Amravati, where his parents once held elected office. His opponents belittle any suggestion that his family did not orchestrate his candidacy and call him a carpetbagger

Rajendra Shekhawat, nicely polished in a pressed white shirt and neatly parted hair, his face sunburned from campaigning in the south Indian sun, says he is running for office as a common man. His pink cheeks suggest otherwise, though, since common men in India usually toil outdoors without requiring sunscreen.

Another clue is the elephant in every room in which he campaigns in this city in the state of Maharashtra: Mom. She is Pratibha Patil, the president of India.

“I’m not using my parents’ name at all,” Mr. Shekhawat, 42, stated in an upstairs office in his parents’ home, which he is indisputably using as a campaign headquarters. “I’m running on my own. But for sure, being in a political family for so many years does help me, and gives me easy accessibility for doing the work of the people.”

Democracy is built on the oft-tarnished ideal that any man or woman can get elected, but in India, home to the world’s biggest democracy, it helps to be part of a political family. The Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, scions of the governing Congress Party, is India’s version of the Kennedys. But other political dynasties, large and small, have proliferated so rapidly that many analysts believe nepotism is corroding the political system.

India’s chaotic politics can sometimes seem democratic to a fault: the election cycle rarely pauses and the country has roughly 1,050 registered national and regional political parties. But most of the major parties, including the majority Congress Party, are internally undemocratic; there are no primaries and party leaders discourage public dissent. Party bosses select candidates and have shown an increasing tendency to select their own relatives.

Here in Amravati, the decision by Congress Party leaders to run Mr. Shekhawat for Tuesday’s elections in Maharashtra State has provoked an angry backlash. He is running for a state assembly seat in the same district where his parents once held elected office. But to put him there, Congress leaders pushed aside Mr. Sunil Deshmukh, a former radiologist and two-term Congress incumbent with broad local support. Leaders offered Mr. Deshmukh the chance to run elsewhere, but he rebelled and is seeking his own seat as an independent.

“This is a fight against injustice,” declared Mr. Deshmukh, warming to his role as political insurgent. “If he is defeated, that will send a very strong message to all parties, no? If the person is only the son or daughter or a nephew of an important person, you can’t just thrust him on the people.”

Across India, political families are entrenched at every level of government and politics. At least nine of the 32 members of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s cabinet either descended from political families or have children seeking or holding office. Parliament is littered with political families; a recent study found that 31 of the 58 women elected had a husband, brother, father or father-in-law in politics.

The trend is even more glaring at the state level. In Maharashtra, analysts estimate that 30 or more party candidates running this month are from political families. The state’s chief minister, the top executive post, is the son of a former chief minister. This is also the case in two other states while the Congress Party is strongly considering replacing the late chief minister of Andhra Pradesh with his son.

“It has gotten into the DNA of the Indian political system,” said Jagdeep Chhokar, a founding member of the Association for Democratic Reform in New Delhi. “To control the workings of the party, the leader depends on trusted people. And one of the traditions of Indian culture is that you trust family members more than outsiders.”

Indian politics have a high turnover rate and voting blocs can be defined by region, religion, caste or community. Yet analysts say Indian voters favor a familiar family pedigree, partly because of a cultural reverence for the family and because of habits in some regions that trace back centuries. Several of the royal families who ruled over feudal states have today evolved into political families.

Modern India’s political marketplace is so crowded with parties and candidates that the “brand” of a familiar family name can bring an advantage, several analysts say. And the closed nature of political parties often perpetuates the dynastic problem; in several cases, rebels who broke from one party have formed their own and installed relatives around them.

Few political families are eager to step away from the power and lucre of office. In the state of Haryana, which has several local political dynasties, a recent study concluded that incumbents running for re-election had increased their personal wealth, on average, by 388 percent during their five years in office.

“Every political family these days is keen to keep someone in the field,” said Suhas Palshikar, who teaches politics at Pune University in Maharashtra. “Lots of resources are involved. Lots of networks are involved. And to put it crudely, a lot of money is involved.”

Mrs. Patil, 74, the Indian president, has less than three years remaining in her term. The position of president is largely ceremonial, with real power invested in the prime minister and his cabinet, though the presidency does command deference. Mrs. Patil’s press officer said the president had not been involved in her son’s candidacy but that the son, like anyone, has a constitutional right to seek office.

Her son’s opponents belittle any suggestion that his family did not orchestrate his candidacy and call him a carpetbagger who has spent much of his life away from Amravati, returning only in the past year after his political ambitions had been kindled.

“His only asset is his mom,” said Dr. Pradeep Shingore, 56, a cardiologist who is the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate for the seat. “Politics is being used as ancestral property.”

On a cloudless morning in one of the city’s slums, the incumbent, Mr. Deshmukh, led supporters on a padyatra, or foot march, a ritual in Indian politicking. Sprinkled in the crowd were the mayor and 20 other local officials from the Congress Party who are defiantly supporting him.

“People are very angry,” said Ashok Dongre, the mayor. “These families are not good for democracy because the common person, the party worker in the field, should be encouraged to go for higher positions. If you do not do that, how will the party succeed?”

Many observers consider Mr. Deshmukh the favorite in the race, though he faces practical obstacles. Every candidate on the ballot is accompanied by a party symbol, which provides a guide for illiterate rural voters. The Congress symbol, an open hand, is iconic in India. But as an independent, Mr. Deshmukh had no symbol; after considering choices offered by the election bureau, he decided upon an image of a television.

“He has come to seek your blessing!” a campaign worker shouted in the slum as others waved banners with the television image. “His symbol is television! Tee-vee! Tee-vee! Tee-vee!”

For his part, Mr. Shekhawat, the president’s son, brushes aside criticism of his candidacy. He is making his first run for office after working for an educational institute controlled by his family and has spent more than a decade working inside the Congress Party. He says Mr. Deshmukh has failed to promote development projects adequately and accuses him of the political sin of disloyalty.

“This kind of defiance shows indiscipline,” Mr. Shekhawat said. “Nobody is above the party. Nobody.”

Nepotism presents an especially complicated question for the Congress Party and the Gandhi dynasty. Rahul Gandhi, the presumptive heir to the party, has been visiting poor villages while promoting the idea of making the party more open and internally democratic. As part of his tour, Mr. Gandhi appeared Friday in Amravati for a rally with local Congress candidates.

On the stage with him was the president’s son.

One.. five…20…100…500…1000. One lost count as nearly 25,000 buffaloes were sacrificed at Gadhimai Mela in Bara district of southern Nepal bordering India on Tuesday.

Protests by activists like French actress Brigitte Bardot and India’s politician-cum-crusader Maneka Gandhi failed to have an impact as nearly 300 people armed with machetes and khukhris butchered the animals to appease Goddess Gadhimai.

Held every five years, the Gadhimai Mela is called by some as the world’s biggest animal sacrifice fair. It is attended by millions of devotees from acrossNepal and neighbouring India and thousands of animals and birds are killed as part of a traditional ritual.

And it is no different this time around. An estimated 1.5 million devotees converged at the temple on Tuesday. Nearly 500,000 buffaloes, goats, roosters, pigeons and rats are expected to be sacrificed in two days.

“Animal sacrifice is part of religious and traditional beliefs and we are not going to stop this practice at any cost,” said a priest at Gadhimai Temple refusing to divulge his name.

It was 9:15 am when several priests accompanied by some authorized slaughterers sacrificed five buffalo calves after tying them to a wooden stake. Amidst shouts of Jai Gadhimai Ki, hundreds of devotees rushed forward to touch the spilled blood and apply it to their foreheads.

The sacrifices were meant to appease the goddess.

“But soon it came to be known that offering sacrifice at the temple could lead to fulfillment of wishes and large number of devotees started reaching here,” said Sunil Kumar, a local farmer.

As regular readers know, I am interested in cults, especially political cults but religious ones as well. I’m not sure how I discovered the Oneness Movement or O.M. I must have been looking for something on Youtube. If you are not familiar with these nuts, here is what they are all about.

Their leader Sri Bhagavan (original name Vijaykumar Naidu), claims he is Kalki, the final avatar of Vishnu and can “enlighten” us mere mortals through his touch or gaze. The cult is also known as Kalki Deeksha movement. He and his wife, Sri Amma (Padmini), offer classes (level 1 and level 2) for thousands of dollars to facilitate the “enlightenment” process. It is an old scam that never ends to bring in new suckers.

Loved and worshipped by millions, Sri Amma Bhagavan are avatars for enlightenment and God realisation. They are one single avataric consciousness in two bodies. They represent the Divine feminine and the Divine masculine. Together Amma and Bhagavan power the process of enlightenment of the individual seeker as Yin and Yang, stillness and movement, Prakruti and Purusha.

The new twist for this cult is claiming spiritual awakening or deeksha is a “neurobiological process” and adding strange accoutrements like a golden orb to the standard Hindu cosmology:

The phenomenon of the Oneness Blessing/Oneness Deeksha is sourced in the descent of the “Golden Ball of Divine Grace”, a mystical golden orb of light, into which Sri Amma Bhagavan had impregnated their divine consciousness since early childhood through a very esoteric process. In July 1989, this Golden Ball of divine grace descended into many children of the Jeevashram School founded by Sri Amma & Bhagavan. With the descent of the Golden Ball these children were instantly transported into deep mystical states of consciousness and experienced profound transformation, thus heralding the birth of a phenomenon Sri Amma Bhagavan had been waiting for over nearly four decades.

The Golden Ball of Divine grace embodies the divine intent of Sri Amma Bhagavan, namely ‘to set man totally and unconditionally free’ and it is this intent that powers the Oneness Blessings/Oneness Deekshas worldwide. Oneness Blessing/Oneness Deeksha is essentially the process of facilitating the descent of this Golden Ball, which naturally activates a neurobiological process in the receiver’s brain, thus culminating in a spiritual awakening. In addition, it also activates the seven energy centers (chakras) in the subtle body and the dormant spiritual energy (kundalini), which constitutes the basis of every form of transformation in life, mundane as well as spiritual.

How people fall for this nonsense is actually rather sad. In one devotee’s words:

‘Diksha’, or baptism as we know it in the West, is a hands-on transference of Divine energy that brings about a state of oneness, or enlightenment. In the past, only a very few have been blessed with this state. Now, for the first time in human history, enlightenment is being made available to everyone through the grace if Sri Bhagavan (See picture). Sri Bhagavan, or Kalki as he is often called, is an Avatar who has the mission of bringing enlightenment to the world at this critical time.

Bhagavan says that you cannot attain a full state of enlightenment through your own efforts, although you can get close. Full enlightenment is a state that must be given to you!

What happens to us when we receive Diksha probably cannot be understood by the human mind, but it can best be described as a neuro-biological shift in the brain. We become detached or de-clutched from our mind. We are still able to feel feelings and have old thoughts, but there is no charge there anymore, and we start to experience permanent peace and joy. It is not about becoming mindless, but rather ‘mindful’ and being totally present with reality as it is.

If you were a native African, for example, you could probably become enlightened after receiving only one Diksha. However, we in the West are holding onto so many emotional blocks and concepts about life, that it is not as easy for us to attain this state.

Here is a different perspective:

I am having a hard time getting my money refunded from the people at the Oneness Movement. They have been extremely “nice” but they are basically charging me in order to refund the money. God, I wish I never gave them the fucking money in the first place. It’s another expensive lesson, but the same one over and over – listen to myself, not any one else who claims to have some kind of “answer”.

It seemed so appealing, the thought of all my Issues dissolving after three weeks of deeksha. But the warning signs were there. Signing the waiver saying I could withstand sleep and food deprivation, the high fee and the inability to leave the ashram, being told everyone has the same questions as me so I should just go with the flow and ignore what my inner voice was saying…I am grateful for my rational over-thinking mind coming in to save the day!

But now I have to deal with these mo-fo’s to get the money back. And I am learning about cults and mind-control as I try to navigate through their system of niceties and bullshit. They have me by the balls. I want to write an expose on them before they get much larger, but who the hell has heard of deeksha? Or, as they call it now, Oneness Deeksha or Oneness Prayer. That edict came down from on high last week – maybe the authorities are getting on to the deeksha name.

It turns out many of the early devotees were likely dosed with hallucinogenic leyham without their consent, leading to the extraordinary experiences they shared together. After leaving the Oneness University many of the devotees experience withdrawals and psychosis. Some have committed suicide.

As to where all the money is going. Part of it is going to build this temple:

The rest is being invested in personal properties and businesses owned by cult leadership.

“”"BANGALORE: The worst nightmare of working parents entrusting the care of their children to nannies became a reality for a city couple recently. As soon as they would kiss their little one goodbye, the nanny would feed him and get him ready – for a day of begging on the streets of Bangalore. Instead of milk, the baby was fed sedatives; instead of the clothes carefully put out by his parents, she would dress him up in rags. The modus operandi was simple – she would hand the seven-month-old baby to beggars for Rs 100 a day and lie back at her employers’ home, watch soaps and feed herself to her heart’s content. And this was not an `ayah’ picked up by hearsay reference, she came duly recruited by an employment agency, considered a safe option. The horrifying story was revealed when the child’s mother – who works for an MNC – returned home early one day. She found the nanny sitting in front of the TV but the baby was missing. Taken aback, she confronted the nanny who then confessed that she had been sending the baby for begging for the past three weeks. It’s only then that the parents realized why their son was drowsy and inactive in the evenings – he was being sedated everyday but for weekends when the parents would be home. Strangely, though, the couple have so far not lodged a police complaint. “The parents want to remain anonymous and don’t want to even talk about it,” a source said. They are said to be planning to move abroad. It isn’t clear whether this incident has forced them to take this step, but it would be hardly surprising if they wish to leave this nightmare behind. According to State Children Commission officials, a suo motu case will be filed against the nanny. “We are trying to track the family and get more details about the crime and the nanny. As beggary is a punishable offence, stringent action will be taken against the culprit. The commission will meet on Friday to decide on the course of action. “”"