Self-styled 'God on earth' is sued for £8million by ex-disciples who claimed he raped and swindled them over decades
A Hindu priest is being sued for up to £8million over claims he posed as 'God on Earth' to swindle and rape his disciples.
Rajinder Kalia, 68, allegedly said he could heal the sick and used videos of 'parlour tricks' to give the impression he could work miracles by squeezing blood from lemons and setting water on fire.
He then allegedly exerted 'undue influence' by groping and raping four women – three from childhood – over decades.
Married Mr Kalia is also accused of compelling three 'victims' to work unpaid and hand over large sums.
Now the ex-disciples are fighting their former guru at London's High Court. They claim he 'flamboyantly' donated £2,500 to West Midlands Police – and that, after they made rape allegations, officers dropped the case and investigated several of them over fabricated allegations of child abuse.
Rajinder Kalia, 68, being crowned as 'God on Earth'
Ex-disciples are fighting Mr Kalia (pictured) at London's High Court
Mr Kalia, a former clerk and draper, denies any wrongdoing, blaming 'a conspiracy between the claimants'.
The court, which began sitting this week, has been told that after a motorbike crash suffered as a youth in India, Mr Kalia 'miraculously' walked again following a visit to Himachal Pradesh – an area associated with Hindu god Baba Balak Nath.
He came to England aged 21 and soon launched his own Baba Balak Nath temple in Coventry in 1986.
Barrister Mark Jones, representing the seven claimants, told the judge: 'This is an unusual case, where the claimants allege to have been wholly subject to the charismatic and forceful personality of Mr Kalia over decades.
'He portrayed himself as an incarnation of God through the purported performance of miracles. The claimants' ability freely to consent to his demands for financial and sexual benefits was overridden. They were incapable of resisting.'
The first victim, a 57-year-old woman, who is not being named for legal reasons, joined the temple as a single mother and was soon attending three sermons a week, some from 4pm to 5am.
She wept on Friday as she recalled he told her he was 'omnipotent and omnipresent' and would decide if she went to Hell.
He allegedly forced her to endure 'non-consensual penetrative sexual activity on a minimum of 1,320 occasions' over 22 years of abuse, telling her his 'abhorrent' sexual perversions were 'akin to relations enjoyed by Hindu deity Krishna'.
A woman aged 48 said he began abusing her at 13, and took her virginity at 21 in a Stratford-upon-Avon hotel he made her book.
After she went to the police in 2017, she claims his disciples 'threatened her with acid attacks' before she was wrongly arrested over child abuse.
A third, 37, says she was made to play the drums at services until her hands bled, was groped from the age of 13 and had her virginity taken. 'She feared nobody would believe her if she were to allege 'God' had raped her', it was claimed. A fourth, 36, claims he inappropriately kissed her from age four.
Barrister Mark Jones said that Mr Kalia 'portrayed himself as an incarnation of God'
Another claimant says he told her to leave her husband and even alleges he made 'an absurd demand [and] that in her thrall she paid £5,000 to cure her dog's cancer'.
Mr Kalia lives with wife Sachitra, 67, in a £1.1million gated mansion in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire. His barrister, Sarah Crowther KC, told the court he made no claims to have 'divine power', continuing: 'The defendant denies all the allegations. They are fundamentally dishonest and the product of a conspiracy to extort Mr Kalia.'
The case continues.
