Police Complaint Filed After Nepal Spiritual Leader's Followers Disappear

The Nepal police have launched a search for five missing followers of a Buddhist spiritual leader, popularly known as "Buddha Boy", after their families filed complaints against the godman, officials said in Kathmandu today.

Ram Bahadur Bomjon gained global media attention in 2005 after his devotees claimed that he meditated for months without food, water or sleeping.

Later, he got embroiled into controversies after several of his followers and their relatives accused him of assaulting them sexually and physically. However, his aides rejected the accusations.

According to the police, following complaints of the families of five of Bomjon's followers, they launched a search operation.

The families in their complaint claimed that the followers, including women, have gone missing from his ashram located in Bara district. On Sunday, the family of a nun from Sarlahi, who has been reportedly missing from the ashram for the past nine years, has asked the police to find her whereabouts.

Earlier, the families of four other followers, including a girl, had filed police complaints stating that they lost touch with them in the ashram of the godman.