Cult Leader on Trial for Exploiting & Sexually Abusing Followers

A cult leader is on trial for allegedly exploiting and sexually abusing his followers who said he is really “the devil in disguise”.

Rajinder Kalia has been accused of grooming members of his temple in Coventry to believe he is “God’s incarnation” while abusing young girls.

Four women have said they were sexually abused by him.

A further three have alleged that they were financially exploited.

One alleged victim claimed to have been raped more than 1,320 times over two decades after joining the church as a single mother.

She claimed Kalia told her his “abhorrent” sexual perversions were “akin to relations enjoyed by Hindu deity Krishna”.

Another alleged victim said the leader began abusing her at 13 before taking her virginity at age 21 in a Birmingham hotel.

She told the court she was threatened with acid after she went to the police and was later wrongly arrested for child abuse.

Another woman claims she was groped from the age of 13 and also had her virginity taken by Kalia, while a fourth alleged he inappropriately kissed her when she was four.

Others claim they were fleeced into sending the 68-year-old money.

The cult leader told his followers he could perform miracles, including setting fire to water and squeezing blood from a lemon.

He is the head of the Sidh Baba Balak Nath Ji Society of Coventry.

One alleged victim said: “He isn’t an incarnation of God, he is the devil.”

Kalia began preaching in 1983 after moving to the UK from India and claimed he experienced miracles as a teenager.

This includes being told he would never walk again after a motorbike crash, but finding himself back on his feet after a visit to Himachal Pradesh.

Defending, barrister Sarah Crowther KC said:

“He believes that this was a miracle and increased his faith, particularly in the deity Baba Balak Nath.”

One woman said she had been controlled by Kalia as a child.

She said: “I was told by the devil, Kalia, that I was not to have any relationship.

“When I went to India, I could feel him watching my every move. I was paranoid, I was scared.”

Speaking about those giving evidence on Kalia’s behalf, the woman added:

“They’re puppets on his string, but my string has been cut.”

“They will do anything he says, but he isn’t God. He isn’t an incarnation of God, he is the devil.”

Barrister Mark Jones said the alleged victims were “wholly subject to the charismatic and forceful personality of the defendant”.

Ms Crowther denied any wrongdoing and suggested that the claimants had come together to make a “fundamentally dishonest” attempt to get money out of him.

She said the complaints by the women came at the same time many years after the alleged events and there were “substantial discrepancies” between their cases in court and their police complaints.

Kalia, who lives in a £1.1 million mansion with his wife, denies all the allegations and says they are part of a financial conspiracy.

The trial continues.