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The Cult Dossier · No. 065 · Eastern-Derived

Rajneesh movement

Osho; the Sannyasins; Rajneeshpuram

1970 – present (as Osho International) · Pune, India; Wasco County, Oregon, USA

VII. THE 1980s — SIEGE AND SCANDAL

Fully religious — syncretic guru movement

Who led it

BHAGWAN SHREE RAJNEESH (Chandra Mohan Jain, 1931–1990), later OSHO, a former philosophy lecturer. Effective operational head 1981–85: his secretary MA ANAND SHEELA (Sheela Silverman, b.1949).

What it worshipped and taught

A synthesis of Buddhism, Tantra, Sufism, Gurdjieff, Nietzsche and Western humanistic psychology. Rajneesh preached against all organised religion while building one; taught dynamic meditation (catharsis through chaotic breathing, shouting and dancing); rejected sexual repression, which produced the sex guru label; and encouraged the abandonment of the ego through therapy groups that in the Pune period included violent encounter sessions where injuries occurred. Sannyasins wore red or orange, took Sanskrit names, and wore a mala with Rajneesh's photograph.

Who was in it

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho); Ma Anand Sheela; Ma Anand Puja (Diane Yvonne Onang), the nurse who ran the poisoning laboratory; Swami Prem Niren (Philip Toelkes); Ma Prem Hasya (Françoise Ruddy); Vivek (Christine Woolf); the Oregon officials — District Attorney Michael Sullivan, Attorney General Dave Frohnmayer, County Commissioner William Hulse and Ray Matthew, both poisoned; the state epidemiologist Dr John Livingston; Charles Turner, the US Attorney the group plotted to assassinate.

How it ended, or where it stands

Rajneeshpuram dissolved. The teaching survives as Osho International, a large publishing operation now locked in litigation with Indian followers over trademarks, the Pune site and whether it is an ashram or a resort.

The dead

0 deaths, but 751 poisoned and an assassination plot prepared

Of note

The largest bioterror attack in US history was carried out by a meditation commune, and it took the FBI a year to accept that the outbreak was deliberate. The 2018 Netflix series Wild Wild Country brought the case back into general awareness.

Its timeline

  1. 1970 Begins initiating sannyasins in Bombay; Pune ashram from 1974.
  2. 1981 Facing Indian tax claims, moves to the United States and buys the BIG MUDDY RANCH in Wasco County, Oregon — 64,229 ACRES — FOR 5.9 MILLION DOLLARS (published figures range from 5.75 to 5.9 million).
  3. 1981–1985 RAJNEESHPURAM built. THE POPULATION FIGURE NEEDS SPLITTING: LONG-TERM RESIDENTS NUMBERED AROUND 2,500, while the peak figure of ROUGHLY 7,000 counts the annual festival influx. The commune's own projections envisaged growth beyond 30,000, which never happened. A city of up to 7,000 at peak with its own airport, dam, bus fleet, shopping mall and armed police force, the Rajneeshee Peace Force. Rajneesh himself observes public silence from 1981 to 1984 and accumulates 93 Rolls-Royces.
  4. 1983 Takeover of the neighbouring town of Antelope, renamed Rajneesh; local residents driven out.
  5. September 1984 THE SHARE-A-HOME PROGRAMME. About 4,000 homeless people are bussed in from cities across America to be registered as voters to swing the county election. When they prove uncontrollable, they are drugged with Haldol in beer and abandoned.
  6. 29 AUGUST – 10 OCTOBER 1984 THE DALLES SALMONELLA ATTACK. To suppress turnout in the county election, Sheela and the nurse Ma Anand Puja, with about a dozen others, cultivate Salmonella in an on-site laboratory and contaminates salad bars at ten restaurants in The Dalles, Oregon. 751 PEOPLE ARE POISONED; 45 HOSPITALISED; NO DEATHS. The agent was Salmonella enterica Typhimurium. THE 751 FIGURE IS THE OFFICIAL COUNT FROM THE CDC'S OWN PUBLISHED EPIDEMIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION of the outbreak, not an estimate. It remains THE LARGEST BIOTERROR ATTACK IN UNITED STATES HISTORY. The commune also plots to assassinate US Attorney Charles Turner and tests poisons on county commissioners, one of whom nearly dies.
  7. September 1985 Sheela and about 20 others flee to Europe. Rajneesh holds a press conference denouncing her and invites the FBI in; investigators find the laboratory, wiretapping equipment covering the whole commune, and the poison stocks.
  8. 23 October 1985 Rajneesh arrested in North Carolina attempting to leave the country; pleads guilty to two counts of making false statements to immigration officials, receives a SUSPENDED TEN-YEAR SENTENCE and a 400,000-DOLLAR FINE, and is deported with a five-year bar on return. Twenty-one countries refuse him entry.
  9. 1986 Sheela extradited from West Germany; sentenced to 20 years, serves 29 months, moves to Switzerland where she runs care homes.
  10. 19 January 1990 Rajneesh dies in Pune aged 58; his followers maintain he was poisoned with thallium in US custody, which the US denies.
  11. 2000s–2020s THE MOVEMENT'S AFTERLIFE IS A FIGHT OVER PROPERTY AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, not doctrine. The OSHO INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION, based abroad and run largely by non-Indian followers, controls the trademarks and the Pune site — now branded the OSHO INTERNATIONAL MEDITATION RESORT in Koregaon Park.
  12. MARCH 2023 A 'REBEL' FACTION OF INDIAN SWAMIS STORMS THE RESORT, arguing it should remain an ashram dedicated to Osho rather than operate as a luxury resort, and opposing the sale of two plots by the OIF. Police intervene; two criminal cases are filed and MORE THAN 120 PEOPLE ARE BOOKED.
  13. 2020s Indian followers characterise the foreign-run foundation's control as a NEO-COLONIAL TAKEOVER of the ashram for commercial gain. The overseas OIF also LOSES AN EIGHT-YEAR TRADEMARK AND PATENT BATTLE at the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Its people

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

Chandra Mohan Jain; Osho; Acharya Rajneesh

Founder, the Rajneesh movement · 11 December 1931 – 19 January 1990 · active 1970–1990

A philosophy lecturer turned guru who synthesised Buddhism, Tantra, Gurdjieff, Nietzsche and Western humanistic psychology, preached against organised religion while building one, and became internationally notorious as the 'sex guru'. In 1981 he moved to Oregon and built a city of 7,000 on a 64,000-acre ranch. He observed public silence from 1981 to 1984 while his secretary Ma Anand Sheela ran the commune, and accumulated 93 Rolls-Royces. When Sheela's criminal operation — including the largest bioterror attack in US history — was exposed, he denounced her and invited the FBI in. He was arrested attempting to leave the country, deported, and refused entry by 21 nations.

Before the law. PLEADED GUILTY in 1985 to two counts of making false statements to immigration officials; SUSPENDED TEN-YEAR SENTENCE, a 400,000-DOLLAR FINE, deportation and a five-year bar on return. Never charged over the bioterror attack.

Where things stand. Deceased 1990. The teaching survives as Osho International, a large publishing operation.

  1. 1970 Begins initiating sannyasins in Bombay; Pune ashram from 1974.
  2. 1981 Moves to Oregon; buys the Big Muddy Ranch.
  3. 1981–84 Public silence; Sheela runs the commune.
  4. September 1984 The Dalles salmonella attack — 751 poisoned.
  5. September 1985 Denounces Sheela; invites the FBI to investigate.
  6. 23 October 1985 Arrested in North Carolina.
  7. 19 January 1990 Dies in Pune aged 58.

Checked 2026-09-26

Ma Anand Sheela

Sheela Silverman; Sheela Birnstiel

Personal secretary and effective operational head, Rajneeshpuram · born 28 December 1949 · active 1981–1985

Ran Rajneeshpuram during Rajneesh's four-year public silence and became the public face of the commune — combative, quotable, and a fixture on American television. She directed the salmonella contamination of ten salad bars in The Dalles, Oregon, in September 1984, poisoning 751 people in an attempt to suppress turnout in a county election. Her operation also wiretapped the entire commune, plotted the assassination of US Attorney Charles Turner, and tested poisons on county commissioners. She fled to Europe in 1985, was extradited, served 29 months of a 20-year sentence, and now runs care homes in Switzerland.

Before the law. CONVICTED of attempted murder, assault, product tampering, wiretapping and immigration fraud. Sentenced to 20 years; served 29 months. A separate 1999 Oregon indictment for the Turner plot remains outstanding — she has not returned to the US.

Where things stand. AS LATE AS 2025 SHE CONTINUES TO PUBLICLY DEFEND OSHO AND THE RAJNEESH MOVEMENT and to credit Osho with shaping her life. Subject of the 2018 Netflix series Wild Wild Country.

  1. 1981 Arrives in Oregon; takes operational control.
  2. September 1984
  3. 1984–85 Plots to kill US Attorney Charles Turner; poisons county commissioner Judge William Hulse.
  4. September 1985 Flees to West Germany.
  5. 1986 Extradited; pleads guilty.
  6. 1988 Released after 29 months; moves to Switzerland.

Checked 2026-08-24 · living: health details are kept at home

Ma Anand Puja

Diane Yvonne Onang

Head of the Rajneeshpuram medical corporation and poison laboratory · born c.1948 · active 1981–1985

A Filipina-American nurse who ran Rajneesh Medical Corporation and, within it, the laboratory that cultured Salmonella Typhimurium for the attack on The Dalles. Former commune members described her as the most feared person in Rajneeshpuram. She cultivated the bacteria, tested poisons on county commissioners, and worked on plans to kill the US Attorney. Sheela was the strategist; Puja was the technician who made it possible.

Before the law. CONVICTED of attempted murder and product tampering, 1986. Served roughly 29 months.

Where things stand. RELEASED FROM THE FEDERAL PRISON AT PLEASANTON, CALIFORNIA, IN DECEMBER 1988, after nearly 39 months. Her sentence was four and a half years for CONSPIRACY TO TAMPER WITH CONSUMER PRODUCTS — the 1984 salmonella contamination at THE DALLES, OREGON, which sickened close to 750 PEOPLE — with three further years of probation for her part in the WIRETAP NETWORK at Ranch Rajneesh. THIS FILE PREVIOUSLY SAID SHE HAD 'KEPT OUT OF PUBLIC LIFE', WHICH IS NOT QUITE RIGHT: she has written a book and maintained a website describing herself as a grandmother in GERMANY. NOTHING CONSULTED CONFIRMS HER CIRCUMSTANCES AS OF 2026. Her name outside the movement is DIANE YVONNE ONANG.

  1. 1981 Arrives at Rajneeshpuram; heads the medical corporation.
  2. 1984 Cultures salmonella; contaminates ten salad bars — 751 poisoned.
  3. 1984 Poisons county commissioners William Hulse and Ray Matthew; Hulse nearly dies.
  4. 1985 Flees to Europe with Sheela; extradited.
  5. 1986 Convicted; serves time in federal prison.

Checked 2026-08-24 · living: health details are kept at home

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