Ma Anand Sheela
Encyclopedia
Ma Anand Sheela (also known as Ambalal Patel Sheela, Sheela Silverman, later Sheela Birnstiel) is a former follower, secretary and spokeswoman for the India
n mystic
and spiritual teacher Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
, now commonly known as Osho. She was the main planner of the 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack
.
to attend Montclair State College. She married Marc Harris Silverman, a wealthy American and resident of Highland Park, Illinois
. She became known as Sheela P. Silverman. Upon returning to India in 1972, Sheela and Silverman became sannyasins or initiated disciples of the Indian guru
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, now commonly known as Osho. She took the name Ma Anand Sheela; her husband became Swami Prem Chinmaya. Silverman subsequently died, and Sheela married another sannyasin, John Shelfer (Swami Jayananda). Her father also became a sannyasin, taking the name Swami Swarupananda.
, Oregon
commune. She was the main manager and spokesperson, and known for her "acid tongue" as well as for toting a .357 Magnum
handgun; she also created a Rajneeshpuram police force armed with Uzi submachine guns and a Jeep-mounted .30-calibre machinegun. It was under Sheela's influence that Rajneesh decided to travel to the United States and begin an ashram there.
In 1985, Sheela visited Australia
as a spokeswoman for Rajneesh and gained nationwide prominence following an interview with reporter Ian Leslie
on 60 Minutes. During the interview, Sheela was asked about concerns over plans for the Rajneesh cult's expansion in Western Australia, to which she famously replied, "Tough titties". In 1988, while serving time in the San Diego Correctional Facility
, Sheela announced plans to make a "controversial documentary" about her life titled An Hour With Ma Sheela – Tough Titties.
While at Rajneeshpuram, Rajneesh depended on Sheela to manage the organisation. She was seen as Rajneesh's principal aide, and as second-in-command of the organisation. She was also president of Rajneesh Foundation International. Internally within the organisation, Sheela referred to herself as "The Queen". The two of them met each day in private to go over significant matters for the group. The only occasion in which Sheela would not meet with Rajneesh every day was when she was either incapacitated due to illness, or unavailable due to traveling. The majority of Sheela's assistants in her inner circle were women. These women were known internally within the organisation as "moms", and the more influential of them were called "big moms". Sheela ran the operations of virtually all of the sub-groups under Rajneesh's movement, as well as Rajneeshpuram itself. Rancho Rajneesh was administered through the inner circle of followers managed by Sheela. Sheela made decisions for the organisation in meetings with followers in her own private living space on Rajneeshpuram. In addition, Sheela would make decisions for the organisation by herself or after meeting with Rajneesh. Those followers of Rajneesh that did not abide by her rulings risked being kicked out of Rajneeshpuram. According to Bioterrorism and Biocrimes, "This peculiar decision-making style had a significant impact on the group's move to employ biological agents."
When she was asked by a NBC Team about racist comments Rajneesh had made about Jews, she replied with a racist joke about the holocaust
herself, which went as follows:
In 1984, Sheela brought 2,000 transients
to Rajneeshpuram, saying that it was an experiment to house the homeless. The new residents were taken to register as voters, in what was seen to be an attempt to swing two seats on the Wasco County Commission. A judge ordered registration hearings, and most of the transients left the ashram after it was realised that they would not be able to vote. In several appearances on national television, Sheela called the state and county officials "bigoted pigs", "fascists", "full of shit", and threatened that, "If they touch any one of our people, I'll have 15 of their heads, and I mean business". The Rajneesh organisation attempted to find an individual who would run against the two commissioners up for re-election, but were unable to secure a politician favourable to Rajneeshpuram.
infecting local restaurant salad bars with salmonella
, which sickened around 750 people; Sheela's aim was to prevent the locals from voting in the county council elections. Senior leaders of the Rajneesh organisation pursued an option to employ agents to induce sickness in the townspeople such that they would be unable to vote during the elections. It was the first act of mass bioterrorism in the history of the United States. About twelve followers of Rajneesh were involved in the attempts to manufacture and utilise biological agents against citizens in Oregon.
Sheela met with the senior Rajneeshee leadership, where she and another senior member named Puja discussed "bacteria and other methods to make people ill". According to the mayor of Rajneeshpuram, KD, Sheela stated "she had talked with the Bhagwan about the plot to decrease voter turn out in The Dalles
by making people sick. Sheela said that Bhagwan commented that it was best not to hurt people, but if a few died not to worry." KD was short for Swami Krishna Deva, the organisation's internal name; the mayor's real name was David Berry Knapp. Ma Anand Puja was a nurse who was a trusted assistant to Sheela; Puja did not spend significant time with other members of the Rajneesh organisation. Puja's real name was Dianne Yvonne Onang. Sheela and Ma Anand Puja discussed using other biological agents including Salmonella typhi, which causes typhoid fever
, before settling on Salmonella typhimurium. Sheela and Puja rejected Salmonella typhi as the biological agent of choice because they thought that an outbreak of typhoid fever would bring too much unwanted attention to their efforts. They obtained the salmonella from the American Type Culture Collection
.
Subsequent to Sheela's fleeing Rajneeshpuram, other officials within the organization characterized the location where the biological agents were developed as a "germ warfare" laboratory. With other senior leaders of the Rajneesh organisation, Sheela was directly involved with incidents where they sprinkled salmonella on to surfaces frequented by citizens in The Dalles. After Ma Anand Puja had succeeded in contaminating salad bars with salmonella agent, Sheela congratulated her, "Pujy (referring to Puja), you've done a good job making everyone sick. Too bad you didn't make more people sick." Due to poor relations between Rajneesh followers and the surrounding community and disagreements over land zoning issues, local citizens suspected that they had been deliberately poisoned. Ten salad bars in The Dalles, Oregon were contaminated with salmonella biological agents by followers of Rajneesh.
said, "Sheela brands Rajneesh 'liar'". "The hell with Bhagwan!," said Sheela when asked about the charges Rajneesh had levelled against her. Rajneesh asserted that Sheela had actually written the Book of Rajneeshism published under his moniker, which said that Rajneeshism should not be considered a religion. Sheela's robes, along with 5,000 copies of the Book of Rajneeshism, were burned by 2,000 followers of Rajneesh. In a 3 November 1985 appearance on the CBS News
program 60 Minutes
, Sheela asserted that Rajneesh was responsible for "exploiting people by using their human frailty and emotions". When she was queried on her thought if the religion of Rajneeshism was simply a confidence trick
, Sheela responded, "Absolutely". Sheela maintains that Rajneesh was complicit in her criminal acts. According to the 2007 book Belief and Bloodshed, "for the past twenty years, Sheela has sworn that Rajneesh directed every criminal and violent move."
Authorities discovered extensive wire-tapping networks and bioterror labs in Sheela's house. She was arrested on 28 October 1985 in West Germany and extradited to the U.S. in February 1986, on charges of immigration fraud, arranging more than 400 sham marriage
s, and an attempt to murder Rajneesh's personal physician, Swami Devaraj (Dr. George Meredith); by poisoning.
The prosecution of Sheela and Puja was split between state and federal law enforcement. The Oregon Attorney General handled prosecution related to poisoning of local Oregon officials Commissioner Matthew and Judge Hulse. The office of the United States Attorney was responsible for the incidents of poisoning at the Oregon restaurants. Sheela and Puja pleaded guilty in Oregon state court on 22 July 1985, on charges of first-degree assault and conspiracy/assault related to the poisoning of Judge Hulse on 29 August 1984. Each of these separate charges brought with it a maximum sentence of a $100,000 fine, in addition to a jail sentence of 20 years. Sheela and Puja also pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and conspiracy/assault, for the poisoning of Commissioner Matthew. Charges of second-degree assault and conspiracy/assault brought with it a maximum sentence of a $100,000 fine in addition to 10 years in jail.
Sheela and her co-conspirators admitted to the attempted murder, poisoning two county officials, setting fire to a county office, and setting up an elaborate wire-tapping network at the commune's telephone system, among other charges. Sheela and Puja were sentenced to 24-year jail terms in federal prison, and fined $470,000. She was fined $400,000, plus a charge of $69,353.31 in damages of restitution to be paid to Wasco County, Oregon. All told, Sheela received sentences of three concurrent 20-year terms in prison. The State of Oregon recommended that Sheela's jail time be spent in federal prison. Sheela and Puja served their jail time in Pleasanton, California
, in a prison for nonviolent white-collar
criminals. She was released after two and a half years and immediately left for Switzerland
on 13 December 1988. The State of Oregon had intended to charge Sheela and Puja with additional crimes after their federal sentences had been served, but the two left for Europe before the United States Department of Justice
had given notice to Oregon.
. She also lost her green card
.
Following her release, Sheela returned to Europe and married Swam Dhyan Dipo (Urs Birnstiel), a fellow sannyasin charged in the United States with federal count of wiretap conspiracy. She gained immunity from extradition from future charges, including those related to the 1985 plot to assassinate US prosecutor Charles Turner
; however, she was convicted by a Swiss court in 1999 for "criminal acts preparatory to the commission of murder", but did not serve additional time. After her release, Sheela moved to Switzerland
where she started a new profession managing two nursing home
s. Her husband, however, remained wanted by American authorities until his death in 1993. In 2000, she lived in Switzerland, being the widow of a Swiss citizen.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n mystic
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
and spiritual teacher Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh)
Osho , born Chandra Mohan Jain , and also known as Acharya Rajneesh from the 1960s onwards, as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh during the 1970s and 1980s and as Osho from 1989, was an Indian mystic, guru, and spiritual teacher who garnered an international following.A professor of philosophy, he travelled...
, now commonly known as Osho. She was the main planner of the 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack
1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack
The 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack was the food poisoning of 751 individuals in The Dalles, Oregon, United States, through the deliberate contamination of salad bars at ten local restaurants with salmonella...
.
Early life
Sheela was born Sheela Ambalal Patel in Baroda, India; the youngest of six children of Ambalal and Maniben Patel. At the age of 18, her parents sent her to the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to attend Montclair State College. She married Marc Harris Silverman, a wealthy American and resident of Highland Park, Illinois
Highland Park, Illinois
Highland Park is a suburban municipality in Lake County, Illinois, United States, about north of downtown Chicago. As of 2009, the population is 33,492. Highland Park is one of several municipalities located on the North Shore of the Chicago Metropolitan Area.-Overview:Highland Park was founded...
. She became known as Sheela P. Silverman. Upon returning to India in 1972, Sheela and Silverman became sannyasins or initiated disciples of the Indian guru
Guru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, now commonly known as Osho. She took the name Ma Anand Sheela; her husband became Swami Prem Chinmaya. Silverman subsequently died, and Sheela married another sannyasin, John Shelfer (Swami Jayananda). Her father also became a sannyasin, taking the name Swami Swarupananda.
Rajneeshpuram
From 1981 to 1985, Sheela was Osho's personal secretary, and on 10 July 1981, she purchased the 64000 acres (259 km²) Big Muddy Ranch to create the RajneeshpuramRajneeshpuram
Rajneeshpuram, Oregon was an intentional community in Wasco County, Oregon, briefly incorporated as a city in the 1980s, which was populated with followers of the spiritual teacher Osho, then known as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.- History :...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
commune. She was the main manager and spokesperson, and known for her "acid tongue" as well as for toting a .357 Magnum
.357 Magnum
The .357 S&W Magnum , or simply .357 Magnum, is a revolver cartridge created by Elmer Keith, Phillip B. Sharpe, Colonel D. B. Wesson of firearms manufacturer Smith & Wesson, and Winchester. It is based upon Smith & Wesson's earlier .38 Special cartridge. The .357 Magnum cartridge was introduced in...
handgun; she also created a Rajneeshpuram police force armed with Uzi submachine guns and a Jeep-mounted .30-calibre machinegun. It was under Sheela's influence that Rajneesh decided to travel to the United States and begin an ashram there.
In 1985, Sheela visited Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
as a spokeswoman for Rajneesh and gained nationwide prominence following an interview with reporter Ian Leslie
Ian Leslie
Ian Leslie OAM is an Australian television journalist and corporate communicator. He is best known for his 12 years as a member of the original team on 60 Minutes.-Biography:...
on 60 Minutes. During the interview, Sheela was asked about concerns over plans for the Rajneesh cult's expansion in Western Australia, to which she famously replied, "Tough titties". In 1988, while serving time in the San Diego Correctional Facility
San Diego Correctional Facility
The San Diego Correctional Facility is a Minimum/Medium Security mixed-gender California State Prison facility managed by Corrections Corporation of America since June 1998....
, Sheela announced plans to make a "controversial documentary" about her life titled An Hour With Ma Sheela – Tough Titties.
While at Rajneeshpuram, Rajneesh depended on Sheela to manage the organisation. She was seen as Rajneesh's principal aide, and as second-in-command of the organisation. She was also president of Rajneesh Foundation International. Internally within the organisation, Sheela referred to herself as "The Queen". The two of them met each day in private to go over significant matters for the group. The only occasion in which Sheela would not meet with Rajneesh every day was when she was either incapacitated due to illness, or unavailable due to traveling. The majority of Sheela's assistants in her inner circle were women. These women were known internally within the organisation as "moms", and the more influential of them were called "big moms". Sheela ran the operations of virtually all of the sub-groups under Rajneesh's movement, as well as Rajneeshpuram itself. Rancho Rajneesh was administered through the inner circle of followers managed by Sheela. Sheela made decisions for the organisation in meetings with followers in her own private living space on Rajneeshpuram. In addition, Sheela would make decisions for the organisation by herself or after meeting with Rajneesh. Those followers of Rajneesh that did not abide by her rulings risked being kicked out of Rajneeshpuram. According to Bioterrorism and Biocrimes, "This peculiar decision-making style had a significant impact on the group's move to employ biological agents."
When she was asked by a NBC Team about racist comments Rajneesh had made about Jews, she replied with a racist joke about the holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
herself, which went as follows:
Wasco County elections
Set up under false pretenses (the true size of the envisioned development was initially downplayed), the growing commune was the subject of intense hostility from local Oregonians and soon found itself embattled. Sheela and other senior Rajneesh followers began to realize that the negative impressions of the county commission called the Wasco County Court towards Rajneeshpuram had become an issue for the organisation. Sheela and Rajneesh together made the decision to attempt to take over influence of the Wasco County Court in the November 1984 election, in which two members would be considered for reelection. At the time there were 20,000 residents of Wasco County and 15,000 registered voters; compared with 4,000 inhabitants of the Rajneesh organisation—the majority of which were not United States citizens and not eligible to vote.In 1984, Sheela brought 2,000 transients
Homelessness
Homelessness describes the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are unable or unwilling to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence." The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country...
to Rajneeshpuram, saying that it was an experiment to house the homeless. The new residents were taken to register as voters, in what was seen to be an attempt to swing two seats on the Wasco County Commission. A judge ordered registration hearings, and most of the transients left the ashram after it was realised that they would not be able to vote. In several appearances on national television, Sheela called the state and county officials "bigoted pigs", "fascists", "full of shit", and threatened that, "If they touch any one of our people, I'll have 15 of their heads, and I mean business". The Rajneesh organisation attempted to find an individual who would run against the two commissioners up for re-election, but were unable to secure a politician favourable to Rajneeshpuram.
Mass poisoning and murder plots
Faced with a growing array of legal, legislative and personal challenges, Sheela's tactics became increasingly desperate, gradually morphing into criminal behavior. She conspired to cause a food poisoning epidemic byinfecting local restaurant salad bars with salmonella
Salmonella
Salmonella is a genus of rod-shaped, Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, predominantly motile enterobacteria with diameters around 0.7 to 1.5 µm, lengths from 2 to 5 µm, and flagella which grade in all directions . They are chemoorganotrophs, obtaining their energy from oxidation and reduction...
, which sickened around 750 people; Sheela's aim was to prevent the locals from voting in the county council elections. Senior leaders of the Rajneesh organisation pursued an option to employ agents to induce sickness in the townspeople such that they would be unable to vote during the elections. It was the first act of mass bioterrorism in the history of the United States. About twelve followers of Rajneesh were involved in the attempts to manufacture and utilise biological agents against citizens in Oregon.
Sheela met with the senior Rajneeshee leadership, where she and another senior member named Puja discussed "bacteria and other methods to make people ill". According to the mayor of Rajneeshpuram, KD, Sheela stated "she had talked with the Bhagwan about the plot to decrease voter turn out in The Dalles
The Dalles, Oregon
The Dalles is the largest city and county seat of Wasco County, Oregon, United States. The name of the city comes from the French word dalle The Dalles is the largest city and county seat of Wasco County, Oregon, United States. The name of the city comes from the French word dalle The Dalles is...
by making people sick. Sheela said that Bhagwan commented that it was best not to hurt people, but if a few died not to worry." KD was short for Swami Krishna Deva, the organisation's internal name; the mayor's real name was David Berry Knapp. Ma Anand Puja was a nurse who was a trusted assistant to Sheela; Puja did not spend significant time with other members of the Rajneesh organisation. Puja's real name was Dianne Yvonne Onang. Sheela and Ma Anand Puja discussed using other biological agents including Salmonella typhi, which causes typhoid fever
Typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as Typhoid, is a common worldwide bacterial disease, transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person, which contain the bacterium Salmonella enterica, serovar Typhi...
, before settling on Salmonella typhimurium. Sheela and Puja rejected Salmonella typhi as the biological agent of choice because they thought that an outbreak of typhoid fever would bring too much unwanted attention to their efforts. They obtained the salmonella from the American Type Culture Collection
American Type Culture Collection
The American Type Culture Collection is a private, not-for-profit biological resource center whose mission focuses on the acquisition, authentication, production, preservation, development and distribution of standard reference microorganisms, cell lines and other materials for research in the...
.
Subsequent to Sheela's fleeing Rajneeshpuram, other officials within the organization characterized the location where the biological agents were developed as a "germ warfare" laboratory. With other senior leaders of the Rajneesh organisation, Sheela was directly involved with incidents where they sprinkled salmonella on to surfaces frequented by citizens in The Dalles. After Ma Anand Puja had succeeded in contaminating salad bars with salmonella agent, Sheela congratulated her, "Pujy (referring to Puja), you've done a good job making everyone sick. Too bad you didn't make more people sick." Due to poor relations between Rajneesh followers and the surrounding community and disagreements over land zoning issues, local citizens suspected that they had been deliberately poisoned. Ten salad bars in The Dalles, Oregon were contaminated with salmonella biological agents by followers of Rajneesh.
Flight and convictions
On 13 September 1985, Sheela fled the commune along with several other followers of Rajneesh. Two days later, the Bhagwan himself accused Sheela of arson, wiretapping, attempted murder, and mass poisonings. Sheela denied this, and headlines in the Oregon newspaper The OregonianThe Oregonian
The Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...
said, "Sheela brands Rajneesh 'liar'". "The hell with Bhagwan!," said Sheela when asked about the charges Rajneesh had levelled against her. Rajneesh asserted that Sheela had actually written the Book of Rajneeshism published under his moniker, which said that Rajneeshism should not be considered a religion. Sheela's robes, along with 5,000 copies of the Book of Rajneeshism, were burned by 2,000 followers of Rajneesh. In a 3 November 1985 appearance on the CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
program 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
, Sheela asserted that Rajneesh was responsible for "exploiting people by using their human frailty and emotions". When she was queried on her thought if the religion of Rajneeshism was simply a confidence trick
Confidence trick
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual working alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty and honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility,...
, Sheela responded, "Absolutely". Sheela maintains that Rajneesh was complicit in her criminal acts. According to the 2007 book Belief and Bloodshed, "for the past twenty years, Sheela has sworn that Rajneesh directed every criminal and violent move."
Authorities discovered extensive wire-tapping networks and bioterror labs in Sheela's house. She was arrested on 28 October 1985 in West Germany and extradited to the U.S. in February 1986, on charges of immigration fraud, arranging more than 400 sham marriage
Sham marriage
A sham marriage or fake marriage is a marriage of convenience entered into with the intent of deceiving public officials or society about its purpose. Arranging or entering into such a marriage to deceive public officials is itself a separate violation of the law of some countries...
s, and an attempt to murder Rajneesh's personal physician, Swami Devaraj (Dr. George Meredith); by poisoning.
The prosecution of Sheela and Puja was split between state and federal law enforcement. The Oregon Attorney General handled prosecution related to poisoning of local Oregon officials Commissioner Matthew and Judge Hulse. The office of the United States Attorney was responsible for the incidents of poisoning at the Oregon restaurants. Sheela and Puja pleaded guilty in Oregon state court on 22 July 1985, on charges of first-degree assault and conspiracy/assault related to the poisoning of Judge Hulse on 29 August 1984. Each of these separate charges brought with it a maximum sentence of a $100,000 fine, in addition to a jail sentence of 20 years. Sheela and Puja also pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and conspiracy/assault, for the poisoning of Commissioner Matthew. Charges of second-degree assault and conspiracy/assault brought with it a maximum sentence of a $100,000 fine in addition to 10 years in jail.
Sheela and her co-conspirators admitted to the attempted murder, poisoning two county officials, setting fire to a county office, and setting up an elaborate wire-tapping network at the commune's telephone system, among other charges. Sheela and Puja were sentenced to 24-year jail terms in federal prison, and fined $470,000. She was fined $400,000, plus a charge of $69,353.31 in damages of restitution to be paid to Wasco County, Oregon. All told, Sheela received sentences of three concurrent 20-year terms in prison. The State of Oregon recommended that Sheela's jail time be spent in federal prison. Sheela and Puja served their jail time in Pleasanton, California
Pleasanton, California
Pleasanton is a city in Alameda County, California, incorporated in 1894. It is a suburb in the San Francisco Bay Area located about east of Oakland, and west of Livermore. The population was 70,285 at the 2010 census. In 2005 and 2007, Pleasanton was ranked the wealthiest middle-sized city in...
, in a prison for nonviolent white-collar
White-collar crime
Within the field of criminology, white-collar crime has been defined by Edwin Sutherland as "a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation" . Sutherland was a proponent of Symbolic Interactionism, and believed that criminal behavior was...
criminals. She was released after two and a half years and immediately left for Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
on 13 December 1988. The State of Oregon had intended to charge Sheela and Puja with additional crimes after their federal sentences had been served, but the two left for Europe before the United States Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
had given notice to Oregon.
Release and later life
In December 1988, Sheela was released for good behaviour after serving twenty-nine months of the 20-year sentence for attempted murder of Meredith, first and second degree assault (poisoning) of public officials, immigration fraud, wiretapping within Rajneeshpuram, and the bioterror attack1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack
The 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack was the food poisoning of 751 individuals in The Dalles, Oregon, United States, through the deliberate contamination of salad bars at ten local restaurants with salmonella...
. She also lost her green card
United States Permanent Resident Card
United States lawful permanent residency refers to a person's immigration status: the person is authorized to live and work in the United States of America on a permanent basis....
.
Following her release, Sheela returned to Europe and married Swam Dhyan Dipo (Urs Birnstiel), a fellow sannyasin charged in the United States with federal count of wiretap conspiracy. She gained immunity from extradition from future charges, including those related to the 1985 plot to assassinate US prosecutor Charles Turner
1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot
The 1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot was a conspiracy by a group of high-ranking followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh to assassinate Charles Turner, the then-United States Attorney for the District of Oregon...
; however, she was convicted by a Swiss court in 1999 for "criminal acts preparatory to the commission of murder", but did not serve additional time. After her release, Sheela moved to Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
where she started a new profession managing two nursing home
Nursing home
A nursing home, convalescent home, skilled nursing unit , care home, rest home, or old people's home provides a type of care of residents: it is a place of residence for people who require constant nursing care and have significant deficiencies with activities of daily living...
s. Her husband, however, remained wanted by American authorities until his death in 1993. In 2000, she lived in Switzerland, being the widow of a Swiss citizen.