Editing Rajneesh (section)

==== 1984 bioterror attack ====
{{Further|1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack}}
[[File:Osho Rajneesh.jpg|thumb|Rajneesh in 1983|left]]
Rajneesh had coached Sheela in using media coverage to her advantage and during his period of public silence he privately stated that when Sheela spoke, she was speaking on his behalf.<ref name=Zaitz1 /> He had also supported her when disputes about her behaviour arose within the commune leadership, but in early 1984, as tension amongst the inner circle peaked, a private meeting was convened with Sheela and his personal house staff.<ref name=Zaitz1 /> According to the testimony of Rajneesh's dentist, Swami Devageet (Charles Harvey Newman),<ref name=DevageetTest>[https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/73832-03-swami-devageet-testimony.html#document/p33/a14388 Transcript] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117085409/https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/73832-03-swami-devageet-testimony.html#document/p33/a14388 |date=17 January 2013 }} of state grand jury testimony of the guru's dentist about life inside the guru's home and dealings with Sheela. Contributed by: Ed Madrid, The Oregonian.</ref> she was admonished during a meeting, with Rajneesh declaring that his house, and not hers, was the centre of the commune.<ref name=Zaitz1 /> Devageet claimed Rajneesh warned that Sheela's jealousy of anyone close to him would inevitably make them a target.<ref name=Zaitz1>{{cite news|work=[[The Oregonian]] |date=14 April 2011 |url=http://www.oregonlive.com/rajneesh/index.ssf/2011/04/part_one_it_was_worse_than_we.html |title=5 years after Rajneeshee commune collapsed, truth spills out&nbsp;– Part 1 of 5 |publisher=Oregon Live |access-date=10 July 2011 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423142622/http://www.oregonlive.com/rajneesh/index.ssf/2011/04/part_one_it_was_worse_than_we.html |archive-date=23 April 2012 }}</ref>

Several months later, on 30 October 1984, he ended his period of public silence, announcing that it was time to "speak his own truths".<ref name="JMF27">{{harvnb|Fox|2002|p=27}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Carter|1990|p=209}}</ref> On 19 December,<!-- 1984--> Rajneesh was asked if organisation was necessary for a religion to survive.<ref name=":1" /> Disciples present during the talk remember Rajneesh stating that "I will not leave you under a fascist regime".<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Foreman|first=Juliet|title=Bhagwan: The Buddha for the Future|publisher=Rebel Publishing House GmbH|year=1988|isbn=9783907757185|location=Cologne, Germany|pages=413–415}}</ref><ref name="DevageetTest" /> According to the testimony of Rajneesh's dentist, Swami Devageet, this statement seemed directly aimed at Sheela – or to be directly against the present organisational structure.<ref name="DevageetTest" /> The next day, sannyasins usually responsible for the editing and transcribing of the talks into book form were told by the management that the tapes of the discourse had been irreparably damaged by technical trouble and were unavailable.<ref name="DevageetTest" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Foreman|first=Juliet|title=Bhagwan:The Buddha for the Future|publisher=Rebel Publishing House GmbH|year=1988|isbn=9783907757185|location=Cologne, Germany|pages=413–416}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=Subhuti|first=Anand|title=My Dance with a Madman|publisher=Diamond Pocket Books Pvt Ltd|year=2014|isbn=9789350835173|location=India|pages=99}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> After rumours that Sheela had suppressed the discourse grew, Sheela created a transcription of the talk, which was reproduced in The Rajneesh Times.<ref name="DevageetTest" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /> All suggestions that Rajneeshpuram itself had become a fascist state and Sheela was, in the words of Ma Prem Sangeet, "[[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] in a red dress", had been deleted.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

Rajneesh spoke almost daily, except for a three-month gap between April and July 1985.<ref name=":1" />
In July, he resumed daily public discourses; on 16 September, a few days after Sheela and her entire management team had suddenly left the commune for Europe, Rajneesh held a press conference in which he labelled Sheela and her associates a "gang of fascists".<ref name="FF2-108" /> He accused them of having committed serious crimes, most dating back to 1984, and invited the authorities to investigate.<ref name="FF2-108" />

The alleged crimes, which he claimed were committed without his knowledge, included attempted murder of his personal physician, poisoning of public officials, [[wiretapping]] and [[bugging]] within the commune and his residence, and a [[1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack|bioterror attack]] that sickened 751 citizens of [[The Dalles, Oregon|The Dalles]] using ''[[Salmonella]]'' to influence [[Wasco County, Oregon|county]] elections.<ref name="FF2-108">{{harvnb|FitzGerald|1986b|p=108}}</ref> While his allegations were initially greeted with scepticism by outside observers,<ref name="nytimesroiled">{{cite news|last=Martin |first=Douglas |title=Guru's Commune Roiled As Key Leader Departs |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=22 September 1985 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/22/us/guru-s-commune-roiled-as-key-leader-departs.html |access-date=15 March 2008 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140106122031/http://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/22/us/guru-s-commune-roiled-as-key-leader-departs.html |archive-date=6 January 2014 }}</ref> the subsequent investigation by U.S. authorities confirmed these accusations and resulted in the conviction of Sheela and several of her lieutenants.<ref name="LFC233238" />
On 30 September 1985, Rajneesh denied that he was a religious teacher.<ref name="sc85">{{Cite news
| title = Guru's arrest not imminent
| agency = Associated Press
| newspaper = Spokane Chronicle
| location = Washington
| date = 2 October 1985
| page = D6
| url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9_pLAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tfkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7015%2C441056
 }}</ref> His disciples burned 5,000 copies of the book ''Rajneeshism: An Introduction to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and His Religion'', a 78-page compilation of his teachings that defined "Rajneeshism" as "a religionless religion".<ref>{{cite book|title = Rajneeshism: An Introduction to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and His Religion|date = June 1983|publisher = Rajneesh Foundation International|isbn = 0-88050-699-7|editor = Academy of Rajneeshism}}</ref><ref name="sc85" /><ref name="tl85">{{Cite news
| title = Rajneesh renouncing his cult's religion
| author = Sally Carpenter Hale, Associated Press
| newspaper = [[The Ledger]]
| date = 1 October 1985
| page = 8A
 }}</ref> He said he ordered the book-burning to rid the sect of the last traces of the influence of Sheela, whose robes were also "added to the bonfire".<ref name="sc85" />

The salmonella attack is considered the first confirmed instance of chemical or biological terrorism to have occurred in the United States.<ref>{{harvnb|Carus|2002|p=50}}</ref> Rajneesh stated that because he was in silence and isolation, meeting only with Sheela, he was unaware of the crimes committed by the Rajneeshpuram leadership until Sheela and her "gang" left and sannyasins came forward to inform him.<ref name="UM118">{{harvnb|Mehta|1993|p=118}}</ref> A number of commentators have stated that they believe that Sheela was being used as a convenient scapegoat.<ref name="UM118" /><ref name="TLS205">{{harvnb|Aveling|1994|p=205}}</ref><ref name="FF2-109">{{harvnb|FitzGerald|1986b|p=109}}</ref> Others have pointed to the fact that although Sheela had bugged Rajneesh's living quarters and made her tapes available to the U.S. authorities as part of her own plea bargain, no evidence has ever come to light that Rajneesh had any part in her crimes.<ref>{{harvnb|Aveling|1999|p=17}}</ref><ref name="JMF50">{{harvnb|Fox|2002|p=50}}</ref><ref name="JSG210">{{harvnb|Gordon|1987|p=210}}</ref> It was, however, reported that Charles Turner, [[David Frohnmayer]], and other law enforcement officials, who had surveyed affidavits never released publicly and who listened to hundreds of hours of tape recordings, insinuated to him that Rajneesh was guilty of more crimes than those for which he was eventually prosecuted.<ref name=Gordon210241>{{harvnb|Gordon|1987|pp=210, 241}}</ref> Frohnmayer asserted that Rajneesh's philosophy was not "disapproving of poisoning" and that he felt he and Sheela had been "genuinely evil".<ref name=Gordon210241 />

Nonetheless, U.S. Attorney Turner and [[Oregon Attorney General]] Frohnmeyer acknowledged that "they had little evidence of (Rajneesh) being involved in any of the criminal activities that unfolded at the ranch".<ref name = dalles1>{{cite news |author=King, Elroy |title=Plea bargain said best deal possible |newspaper= Dalles Chronicle |date= 23 July 1985}}</ref> According to court testimony by Ma Ava (Ava Avalos), a prominent disciple, Sheela played associates a tape recording of a meeting she had with Rajneesh about the "need to kill people" to strengthen wavering sannyasins' resolve in participating in her murderous plots, but it was difficult to hear, so Sheela produced a transcript of the tape. "She came back to the meeting and ... began to play the tape. It was a little hard to hear what he was saying. ... But Param Bodhi, assisted her, and went and transcribed it. And the gist of Bhagwan's response, yes, it was going to be necessary to kill people to stay in Oregon. And that actually killing people wasn't such a bad thing. And actually Hitler was a great man, although he could not say that publicly because nobody would understand that. Hitler had great vision."<ref name=Zaitz5>Les Zaitz. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110419004032/http://www.oregonlive.com/rajneesh/index.ssf/2011/04/part_five_utopian_dreams_die_i.html "Rajneeshees' Utopian dreams collapse as talks turn to murder&nbsp;– Part 5 of 5"], ''[[The Oregonian]]'', 14 April 2011.</ref><ref>{{citation|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Criminal_trial_testimony_of_Rajneesh_member_Ava_Avalos.pdf|date=May 1990|title=Ava Avalos' court testimony|author=United States District Court for the District of Oregon|access-date=3 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180907045639/https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Criminal_trial_testimony_of_Rajneesh_member_Ava_Avalos.pdf|archive-date=7 September 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Rajneesh's personal attorney Philip Niren Toelkes, wrote in 2021 that, "As is fully supported in the testimony of Ava Avalos, an admitted co-conspirator, Sheela presented Osho with a general question about whether people would have to die if the Community was attacked and used his general response that it would perhaps be necessary. Sheela then took an edited recording and 'transcript' of the recording, prepared under her control, back to a meeting to justify her planned criminal actions and overcome the reservations of her co-conspirators."<ref>{{Cite web|title=1.1 Toelkes Declaration {{!}} PDF|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/518006058/1-1-Toelkes-Declaration|access-date=30 July 2021|website=Scribd|language=en}}</ref> Ava Avalos also said in her testimony to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] investigators that "Sheela informed them that Bhagwan was not to know what was going on, and that if Bhagwan were to ask them about anything that would occur, 'they would have to lie to Bhagwan'."<ref name="AVA AVALOS">{{Cite web |url=https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/73830-01-ava-avalos-fbi-statement.html |title=Statement to investigators: Ava Avalos |access-date=30 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130819141428/https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/73830-01-ava-avalos-fbi-statement.html |archive-date=19 August 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Sheela initiated attempts to murder Rajneesh's caretaker and girlfriend, Ma Yoga Vivek, and his personal physician, Swami Devaraj (George Meredith), because she thought that they were a threat to Rajneesh. She had secretly recorded a conversation between Devaraj and Rajneesh "in which the doctor agreed to obtain drugs the guru wanted to ensure a peaceful death if he decided to take his own life".<ref name=Zaitz5 /> When asked if he was targeted because of a plan to give the guru euthanasia in a 2018 interview with ‘The Cut’, Rajneesh's doctor denied this and claimed that "She attacked his household and everybody in it and found any excuse she could to do that. She constantly hated the fact that we had access to Osho. We were a constant threat to her total monopoly on power. "<ref>{{Cite web|last=Silman|first=Anna|date=24 April 2018|title=Bhagwan's Doctor Gives His Take on Wild Wild Country|url=https://www.thecut.com/2018/04/bhagwans-doctor-gives-his-take-on-wild-wild-country.html|access-date=18 December 2021|website=The Cut|language=en-us}}</ref>

On 23 October 1985, a federal grand jury indicted Rajneesh and several other disciples with conspiracy to evade immigration laws.<ref name="FF2-110">{{harvnb|FitzGerald|1986b|p=110}}</ref> The indictment was returned [[in camera]], but word was leaked to Rajneesh's lawyer.<ref name="FF2-110" /> Negotiations to allow Rajneesh to surrender to authorities in Portland if a warrant were issued failed.<ref name="FF2-110" /><ref name="LFC232">{{harvnb|Carter|1990|p=232}}</ref> Rumours of a [[Oregon Military Department|national guard]] takeover and a planned violent arrest of Rajneesh led to tension and fears of shooting.<ref name="PalSha52">{{harvnb|Palmer|Sharma|1993|p=52}}</ref> On the strength of Sheela's tape recordings, authorities later said they believed that there had been a plan that sannyasin women and children would have been asked to create a [[human shield]] if authorities tried to arrest Rajneesh at the commune.<ref name="Gordon210241" /> On 28&nbsp;October<!-- 1985-->, Rajneesh and a small number of sannyasins accompanying him were arrested aboard two rented [[Learjet]]s in [[North Carolina]] at [[Charlotte Douglas International Airport]];<ref name=miavice>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=X1lWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MO8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6935%2C8084467 |work=Spokesman-Review |location=Spokane, Washington |agency=Associated Press |title=Guru's pilots played 'Miami Vice' |date=29 October 1985 |page=A8}}</ref> according to federal authorities the group was en route to [[Bermuda]] to avoid prosecution.<ref name=ergjld>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yOZVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=c-EDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5322%2C7203778 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=Oregon |agency=Associated Press |title=Rajneesh jailed on immigration charges |date=29 October 1985 |page=1A}}</ref><ref name=ranarr>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=X1lWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MO8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=3424%2C8075560 |work=Spokesman-Review |location=Spokane, Washington |agency=The Associated Press |last=Carpenter Hale |first=Sally |title=Rajneesh anticipated arrest |date=29 October 1985 |page=A6}}</ref><ref name=lmtadplif>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=iWtfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6i4MAAAAIBAJ&pg=3980%2C4266378 |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=Idaho |agency=Associated Press |title=Baghwan adapting to life in jail |date=31 October 1985 |page=2A}}</ref><ref name=okcty>{{Cite news
| title = Transfer delayed&nbsp;– Rajneesh to stay for another night in Oklahoma City
| agency = The Associated Press
| newspaper = Spokane Chronicle
| location= Washington
| date = 5 November 1985
| page = A2
| url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Kf5LAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tvkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4198%2C571451
}}</ref> Cash amounting to $58,000, as well as 35 watches and bracelets worth a combined $1&nbsp;million, were found on the aircraft.<ref name="PalSha52" /><ref>{{harvnb|Carter|1990|pp=232, 233, 238}}</ref><ref name="FF2-111">{{harvnb|FitzGerald|1986b|p=111}}</ref> Rajneesh had by all accounts been informed neither of the impending arrest nor the reason for the journey.<ref name="LFC232" /> Officials took the full ten days legally available to transfer him from North Carolina to Portland for [[arraignment]],<ref name="LFC234-235">{{harvnb|Carter|1990|pp=234–235}}</ref> which included three nights near [[Oklahoma City]].<ref name=okcty/><ref name=dliokl>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=cQ8pAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EOEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6671%2C1340956 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=Oregon |agency=Associated Press |title=Rajneesh delayed in Oklahoma |date=6 November 1985 |page=5A}}</ref><ref name=arrvor>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=cw8pAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EOEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6038%2C1786911 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=Oregon |agency=Associated Press |title=Guru arrives in Oregon |date=8 November 1985 |page=1A}}</ref>

In Portland on 8 November before [[United States District Court for the District of Oregon|U.S. District Court]] Judge [[Edward Leavy]], Rajneesh<!--initially--> pleaded "not guilty" to all 34 charges, was released on $500,000 bail, and returned to the commune at Rajneeshpuram.<ref name=pginnp>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YWcPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pYYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3668%2C1036636 |work=The Bulletin |location=Bend, Oregon |agency=UPI |last=Gillins |first=Peter |title=Guru enters innocent plea |date=8 November 1985 |page=A1}}</ref><ref name=bailrj>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=dA8pAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EOEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6212%2C1994563 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=Oregon |agency=Associated Press |title=Guru freed on $500,000 bond |date=9 November 1985 |page=1A}}</ref><ref name=trundt>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=dA8pAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EOEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6791%2C2492012 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=Oregon |agency=Associated Press |title=Disciples say guru tired, underweight |date=10 November 1985 |page=7A}}</ref><ref name=seclun>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lo9TAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pYYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5063%2C1375717 |work=The Bulletin |location=Bend, Oregon |agency=UPI |title=Rajneesh in seclusion at commune |date=10 November 1985 |page=A1}}</ref> On&nbsp;the advice of his lawyers, he later entered an "[[Alford plea]]"—a type of [[guilty plea]] through which a suspect does not admit guilt, but does concede there is enough evidence to convict him—to one count of having a concealed intent to remain permanently in the U.S. at the time of his original visa application in 1981 and one count of having conspired to have sannyasins enter into a [[sham marriage]] to acquire U.S. residency.<ref name="JSG201">{{harvnb|Gordon|1987|pp=199–201}}</ref> Under the deal his lawyers made with the U.S. Attorney's office he was given a ten-year suspended sentence, five years' probation, and a $400,000 penalty in fines and prosecution costs and agreed to leave the United States, not returning for at least five years without the permission of the [[United States Attorney General|U.S. Attorney General]].<ref name=Latkin342>{{harvnb|Latkin|1992|p=}}, reprinted in{{harvnb|Aveling|1999|p=342}}</ref><ref name="LFC233238">{{harvnb|Carter|1990|pp=233–238}}</ref><ref name="FF2-111" /><ref>{{Cite news|title=Around the Nation; Guru's Disciples to Sell Some Commune Assets |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=16 November 1985 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/16/us/around-the-nation-guru-s-disciples-to-sell-some-commune-assets.html |access-date=9 November 2008 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150524170632/http://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/16/us/around-the-nation-guru-s-disciples-to-sell-some-commune-assets.html |archive-date=24 May 2015 }}</ref>

As to "preconceived intent", at the time of the investigation and prosecution, federal court appellate cases and the INS regulations permitted "dual intent", a desire to stay, but a willingness to comply with the law if denied permanent residence. Further, the relevant intent is that of the employer, not the employee.<ref name = immigration>{{cite journal |last= Bell |first= Steven |year= 1986 |title= Recent Judicial, Legislative and Administrative Developments Relating to Immigration and Nationality Law |journal= Immigr. & Nat'lity L. Rev. |publisher= Immigration & Nationality |pages= xiii–xiv, xxxi }}</ref> Given the public nature of Rajneesh's arrival and stay, and the aggressive scrutiny by the INS, Rajneesh would appear to have had to be willing to leave the U.S. if denied benefits. The government nonetheless prosecuted him based on preconceived intent. As to arranging a marriage, the government only claimed that Rajneesh told someone who lived in his house that they should marry to stay.<ref name = immigration /> Such encouragement appears to constitute [[incitement]], a crime in the United States, but not a [[conspiracy (criminal)|conspiracy]], which requires the formation of a plan and acts in furtherance.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}