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Witness History: The Rajneesh Poisoning Scandal

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The Rajneesh Poisoning Scandal

23/05/2018

BBC World Service - Witness History, The Rajneesh Poisoning Scandal

How the followers of an Indian guru tried to poison their opponents in Oregon, USA.

How followers of an Indian spiritual guru went a step too far, as they tried to build utopia in the USA.

In the summer of 1984 disciples of an Indian guru clashed with locals in a small town in Oregon in the USA. The guru was the hugely popular Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh whose followers wore orange and believed in sexual experimentation. But in Oregon some of his disciples were eventually found guilty of poisoning hundreds of people. Dina Newman has been speaking to a local official from Oregon, and a former member of the Rajneesh commune there.

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