Nepal police arrest spiritual leader thought to be reincarnation of Buddha over allegation of rape

A self-proclaimed Nepalese spiritual leader has been arrested over allegations of rape of a minor and the disappearance of at least four of his followers from his religious community centre.

Ram Bahadur Bomjon, also known as the "Buddha Boy" and believed to be the reincarnation of Gautama Buddha, was arrested from his house in a suburb of capital Kathmandu on Tuesday, officials with the country's Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) said.

The 33-year-old man gained popularity as a teenager in 2005 after it was believed that he could meditate cross-legged motionless for months without food or water. He drew more than 100,000 people to the dense forests of south-eastern Nepal to see him sitting cross-legged beneath a tree.

However, he went into hiding after allegations of physical and sexual abuse began to mount against him over the years.

Dozens of complaints were filed against the guru in 2010, where the survivors accused him of beating them for disturbing his meditation. In 2018, he was accused of raping a nun at a monastery.

The next year authorities opened an investigation against him after family members reported the disappearance of four of his devotees from one of his ashrams. The whereabouts of the missing devotees were still unknown.

Mr Bamjan was arrested after being on the run "for several years", authorities said. "Our team arrested him while he was trying to escape by jumping from the window of the house," CIB said in a statement.

"Unless we know what situation the missing are in we are not in a position to call it murder," Dinesh Acharya from the agency told AFP.

The guru was brought before the media in handcuffs on Wednesday. Officials also displayed a stack of Nepalese banknotes they said was equivalent to $227,000 (£178,165) and other foreign currencies amounting to $23,000 (£18,052) seized from the house at the time of the arrest.

He is expected to be taken to a court in southern Nepal, where the alleged crimes occurred, to appear before a judge.

Several dozen of his followers gathered later Wednesday outside the CIB offices in Katmandu where Bamjan was being held but were pushed back by riot police.