A Hindu priest revered by followers ‘as a God’ has been jailed for seven years after being found guilty of the rape and attempted rape of a ‘vulnerable’ devotee.
Born in the village of Sreekrishnapuram in Kerala, India, Muraleekrishnan Pulikkal is viewed by hundreds of followers worldwide as the ‘living incarnation’ of a Hindu god.
The priest – an Indian national who is referred to by members of his congregation as ‘swami’ or ‘baba’ – ran regular prayer sessions from a temple in Barnet, north London, which is attended by his large number of devotees across the UK.
But the ‘divine-like figure’ was arrested and charged with five counts of serious sexual offences last year; one count of rape and one count of attempted rape against one woman, and three counts of sexual assault against another.
He has now been sentenced to seven years after the jury at Wood Green Crown Court returned a guilty verdict for the two counts of rape and attempted rape.
During the two-week trial, the court heard Pulikkal had ‘taken advantage’ of the women, telling them he would ‘look after’ them ‘as a God’ and that they had been together in a ‘previous life’.
Both women, who were allegedly not known to each other, had met Pulikkal when they began attending his prayer sessions, the court was told.
The offences were said to have taken place between the spring of 2022 and 2023, though the jury did not find Pulikkal guilty of the three counts of sexual assault made by the second woman.
Pulikkal had denied all the charges and appeared in the dock dressed in a white and tan Hindu robe.
It comes as the Charity Commission have confirmed they have opened a regulatory compliance case into a charity for which Pulikkal was a trustee and that is named after him – the Om Saravanabhava Seva Trust.
The charity had a total income of £2.14m in the financial year ending May 2023.
Pictured: Muraleekrishnan Pulikkal outside Wood Green Crown Court. The Hindu priest has been found guilty of the rape and attempted rape of a devotee
Pictured: Pulikkal practising a Hindu ritual at the Sri Kathirgaama Skanthan Temple where he was a priest
Detailing the alleged offences, the court heard how Pulikkal would turn up to the homes of one of the women at night with ‘blessed’ food from the temple.
It was on two such occasions that he tried to force her to perform oral sex on him.
The second woman alleged the priest had on three occasions sexually assaulted her by taking her hand during private prayer sessions at his home and placing them near his groin, though this was not upheld by the jury.
Opening at Wood Green Crown Court, prosecutor Mr Christopher Amis said: ‘The defendant Muraleekrishnan Pulikkal, sometimes referred to by the name “swami” or indeed sometimes known as “baba”, was in 2021 the religious leader or priest at a Hindu temple in Barnet in north London.
‘The temple is known as Sri Kathirgaama Skanthan Temple, also referred to sometimes as the Om Sharavana Baba Multi-Faith Community Temple.
‘Both women came into contact with the defendant by virtue of his position as leader of this religious temple.
‘It is the prosecution’s case that he exploited his position to take advantage of these women who were both vulnerable for different reasons.’
He added that the defendant was ‘regarded in his temple by members of the congregation as a divine-like figure, who is vested with special healing powers and other black magic’.
The prosecution told the court how the defendant would hold prayer sessions both in his shared home and at his temple.
In February 2021, one of the victims visited the priest at his home in Oakfield Road, Barnet, to ask him to ‘heal’ her troubled marriage, as her husband was seeking a divorce she did not want.
The defendant allegedly told the woman this was not possible but went on to say that he would look after her ‘as a God’.
The court heard that after this initial ‘consultation’, Pulikkal began bombarding the woman with phone calls where he would urge her to become a member of his congregation.
Pulikkal, revered as ‘swami’ by his large following, performing a ceremony at the temple
The priest would regularly preach to his congregation at the site in Barnet
He has been found guilty of the oral rape and attempted oral rape of ‘vulnerable’ follower
During the calls he began telling her ‘Don’t worry, I am here for you, I’m like your dad’, adding that he ‘liked’ her and that they were together in a past life.
He then started asking the woman for her address, claiming it was to bring her religious food. She told police she initially refused, but he continued asking.
Pulikkal then visited her home one day with three other people, bringing to her food from the temple. On this occasion, nothing untoward is said to have happened.
The court heard he would then call her on WhatsApp video calls, asking her to show him her feet so that he could ‘heal’ her. She said that she felt ‘uneasy’, but he persisted several times, causing her to eventually reveal her feet, to which he commented that they are ‘very lovely’.
The priest’s behaviour caused the woman to fear that he would use black-magic against her if she didn’t agree to his requests.
In a police interview played in court, the alleged victim said he then came to her house one day with the driver. The three of them sat inside on the sofa for some time, before the defendant asked the driver to go outside.
She told police: ‘He hugged and kissed me. I said “no I’m not comfortable”. He said “don’t worry I am like your previous husband.”
‘I said I am not comfortable, he said “you have to accept, I’m the powerful person, I’m the healing person.”
‘He said “God has given you a chance, don’t push.”
She continued: ‘I was scared of him. He said he has black magic, “I can do anything to anyone”.
Pulikkal had denied all the charges and appeared in the dock every day this week dressed in a white and tan Hindu robe
It is said his followers believe he has ‘special powers’ and is able to perform black magic
Pictured: Sharavana Baba Community Centre, in Barnet. The defendant was a priest at the temple
‘He told me I can make them sick, I can take the house, I can make them die.’
Following further requests to meet her at her address at night, the woman attempted to ignore his repeated calls, the court heard.
When she eventually answered, he is alleged to have told her he would ‘destroy’ her and her children if she did not ‘continue’ with him. She said she reduced her visits to the temple after this but still attended occasionally out of fear.
It was then on a date between May 1, 2022, and June 30, 2022, that the woman alleges Pulikkal attempted to orally rape her.
The Hindu priest and his driver are said to have visited the woman at her home around midnight, when the trio shared food from the temple.
After the meal, the priest sent the driver back to their car. The pair were in the kitchen when the defendant lifted up his robe, pushed the woman’s head down, and asked her to give him oral sex, according to the woman.
Speaking in court, the woman said: ‘He asked me to touch his penis. I couldn’t do it because according to our culture I can only have sexual contact with (my husband).
‘So I refused.
‘He was saying, “no it’s good, it’s good.”
‘I didn’t like it. He forced me – I didn’t open my mouth at all. He (was) trying, but I didn’t do it. His penis touched my lips.
‘I was looking at him as a God, he was looking at me in a different way.’
He is said to have then become angry, telling her that she does not love him, and promptly left the house.
The second incident, this time of rape, is alleged to have taken place about a month after the first incident, between June 2022 and July 2022.
Pulikkal returned to the woman’s house with a large group of men at around 11pm.
The priest is understood to also have held private prayer sessions at his home where he would charge money to ‘bless’ or ‘heal’ his devotees
Pictured: The priest performing a ‘puja’ at the Barnet-based temple
When the priest and the woman were alone, Pulikkal asked the woman if he could use the toilet.
According to the woman, the downstairs toilet was not in ‘good condition’ and so she took him to the bathroom upstairs.
When the priest came out of the bathroom, he pressured the woman into giving him oral sex, pushing her head down to the groin and leading the woman to put his penis in her mouth for roughly one minute, crying during the ordeal, the court heard.
The prosecution said she was wary of making noise because her children had been sleeping next door.
Defence barrister Ali Naseem Bajwa KC had questioned whether the woman had been in love with the priest.
Mr Bajwa said: ‘You said (during a police interview), he treated me like a girl-friend. You told him, I suggest, that you loved him.’
The woman said: ‘I didn’t love him. My main concern was to join with my husband for my children.’
Mr Bajwa also questioned: ‘When the defendant came to your home around a month after what we’re calling the first incident, you could have not let him in?’
The woman responded: ‘I had a fear that he would do something bad for me and my children, that is the reason I allow him to come.’
She said that during one video call, he showed her a religious metal arrow, called a trishul in Hinduism, and warned her not to talk about what happened between them to anyone and that he was able to ‘kill’ people who were against him.
In April 2023, the woman sent Pulikkal a voice note saying: ‘You’re with me in a good way.
Both women were said to have attended his congregations at the temple
‘Why do you talk bad things about me? Why do you ask people to talk about these stories?
‘If you are only with me, if you only had an interest in me, if you would only stay with me, that would be a different matter.
‘You were not only interested in me. But also interested in others as well.’
The woman said the message was her questioning him about ‘stories’ she heard about him.
She said: ‘I was questioning are you doing the right thing, are you God?’
The jury found Pulikkal guilty of both of these counts.
In Autumn 2022, another woman alleged she had visited the priest at his home in order to seek spiritual healing for an ongoing medical issue.
The woman had lost her husband two to three years earlier, and at the time of joining the temple had just spent a period in hospital and was ‘anxious to get better’.
She began visiting the priest at his house in September 2022, and said she believed he was ‘divine’ as he seemed to know facts about her and her family that she had never divulged to him.
Pulikkal reassured the woman that he would look after her as a ‘divine master’ – but she alleged that he grabbed the woman’s hand and placed it on his thigh near his groin during several private ‘prayer’ sessions.
At the priest’s direction, the woman was also said to have donated £128,000 to a charitable donation linked to the temple, as well as spending hundreds on special prayer sessions.
The court heard Pulikkal would tell both women he would ‘look after’ them ‘as a God’ and that they had been together in a ‘previous life’
Mr Amis told the court a basic prayer session would cost about £25, while a special blessing could cost up to £501. The women is said to have paid for several special blessings, paying about £2,000 within just a few weeks of joining the temple.
In a police interview played to the court, the woman told an officer: ‘The most I would spend is £1,000 a day.’
The woman said that the priest would touch her hand and hair during group blessings at the temple.
She said in the interview: ‘I want to move away, don’t touch my hair, I wanted to pull away. (I felt) very uncomfortable. In my head, he’s divine – why is he standing so close to me?
‘He was standing so close I could feel his leg moving. He doesn’t just touch, he’s sort of moving. Constantly.’
But the court heard other women attending the temple would tell the woman ‘you’re so lucky’ after she was touched by him during the mass blessings.
She said: ‘Every time you go to the house (his house) you have to pay £200 – just cash, no money transfer.’
During one visit to the temple, the woman heard the priest announce that he needed 10 families to give £10,000 each for a special cause.
She said: ‘He said, “you must give £10,000”. He said, “bring me cash, don’t transfer it”.
‘I did it, I don’t know why, but I did.’
After she began attending the temple regularly, the priest would call her two to three times a day.
She said: ‘When he called me, he said, “I really like you, you’re the one for me, unfortunately I’m a guru, it cannot go further.”
“Why are you call me so much”, I said.’
‘He said, “I need to call you because I cannot sleep, I cannot do anything without calling you.”
The woman said the priest would even place her hand on his groin during her visits to the temple.
She said: ‘When it comes to my turn, he will take my hand, put my hand on his groin, even in temple. He would do it and I didn’t know why no-one would say anything.’
The woman’s first allegation of sexual assault took place on October 18, 2022.
A second woman accused Pulikkal of sexually assaulting her on three occasions, but the jury did not find him guilty of these counts
The court was told the woman and her teenage daughter attended a prayer session on this date at the priest’s property. He is said to have offered group prayer sessions, followed by private sessions behind a curtain in his living room.
During the group prayer session, the defendant appeared to turn into a ‘snake’ as part of a ritual, moving ‘like a cobra on the floor’, according to the woman. The woman told the court that in parts of the Hindu faith it is believed that priests can become possessed by snake spirits during certain rituals.
‘At the time I believed that he had transformed into a snake,’ she said.
After this, the woman and her daughter went behind a curtain for a private blessing.
It was here the woman claims the self-titled spiritual leader took hold of her and her daughter’s hands and began ‘massaging’ them.
She said: ‘My daughter was trying to pull her hand away and I didn’t know it was wrong because he was a priest. She said, “no mummy, I don’t like it”.
‘He said, “she’s really cute…you’re both so cute”.
It was on this occasion that the woman alleges the priest moved her hand on to his thighs, near his groin.
On January 10, 2023, the woman visited the priest again at his property, when the priest told her, unprompted, to think of him ‘like a father’, as he kissed her hand before rubbing it against his face.
In a police interview video played to the court, the woman said: ‘In January I went to the house. This time he was rubbing my hand on his face and now it seems like he was getting some kind of pleasure from it.’
At one point during the private ‘blessing’, the priest moved the woman’s hand on to his lap near his groin, according to the woman.
She said: ‘He put his hand near his groin. I could feel his tummy on my thumb.
‘I felt very uncomfortable, I didn’t like it at all.
‘I was there about 40 minutes. He was touching me and I can’t get away.
‘He repeated, “you must bring your daughter, you must bring your daughter”. I said she doesn’t believe in this and he got angry.’
A similar assault is alleged to have taken place on February 13, 2022.
The woman claims she attended another private prayer session and the priest once again took the woman’s hand and placed it near his groin.
Pictured: Wood Green Crown Court, where the trial took place
The prosecution argued that ‘all the circumstances suggested that this was a sexually motivated action’, and was not something done as part of a religious ceremony.
In the first three months of 2023, the woman donated £128k, with £80k given to the priest in cash – at his request, she alleges.
During calls it is claimed the defendant would tell the woman she is ‘so pretty’ and asked her to ‘come to India’ and live with him.
Towards the end of March, the woman claims that the priest began a video call without his shirt on.
She said: ‘I didn’t like it because it’s not normal for a divine master. I ended the call quickly. When he did that with his shirt off, I felt something’s not right.’
In a written statement submitted to police during his arrest, the defendant claimed there were no ‘private’ sessions and that the curtains were ‘never fully closed’.
Mr Bajwa questioned why the woman continued to attend the temple and donate tens of thousands of pounds after the assaults.
The woman said: ‘Maybe he did black magic on me.’
Mr Bajwa also referenced several messages sent from the woman to the priest in March, including the woman thanking the priest for his advice and calling his prayer sessions ‘amazing’ with heart and flower emojis.
The barrister suggested that these messages showed there was a ‘friendly’ relationship between the pair after the alleged incidents.
The woman said: ‘I was trying to forget what he did, I was trying to be normal. I’m going to be focused on praying, he won’t do that, he won’t do that.’
The woman confirmed that on May 7 she messaged the priest asking for the money to returned as she needed it.
Mr Bajwa suggested the aim of a refund was a factor in her decision to complain to the police 17 days later.
The woman denied this.
The jury did not find the defendant guilty of the second woman’s allegations.
During closing remarks, the prosecution told the court: ‘The prosecution say there was an enormous power differential between the women and the defendant.
‘He seems to have an almost God-like status among his followers, who seem to believe he has special powers.
‘Both women were in complete awe of him, and that is why I suggest there was a complete imbalance in power between both women and the defendant.’
A Charity Commission spokeswoman told MailOnline: ‘We can confirm that we have been engaging with the trustees of Om Saravanabhava Seva Trust as part of a regulatory compliance case, focused on ensuring the charity’s safeguarding procedures were appropriate.
‘All charities have a responsibility to ensure they don’t cause harm to anyone who has contact with them and safeguarding should be a key governance priority for all charities. We remain in contact with the trustees.’
