KATHMANDU - A Nepali man who thousands believed was a reincarnation of the Buddha and who drew international attention as a teenager has been arrested on allegations of rape and sexual abuse, police said on Wednesday.
The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) said its officers arrested Ram Bahadur Bomjon, 33, on Tuesday from a house on the outskirts of Kathmandu where he had been hiding.
“Our team arrested him while he was trying to escape by jumping from the window of the house,” the CIB said in a statement.
As a teenager, Bomjon became known as “Buddha boy” and made international headlines in 2005 after followers said he could meditate motionless without any water, food or sleep for several days.
He drew more than 100,000 people to the dense forests of southeastern Nepal to see him sitting cross-legged beneath a tree.
Bomjon could not be reached for comment in police custody and it was not clear if he had a lawyer yet.
CIB spokesperson Nawaraj Adhikari said Bomjon would be sent to Sarlahi district court, which had issued an arrest warrant for 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.
An 18-year-old nun accused the guru of raping her at a monastery in 2018.
Police opened another investigation against him the following year after family members reported the disappearance of four of his devotees from one of his ashrams.
The whereabouts of the four are still unknown, Dinesh Acharya of the Central Investigation Bureau 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.