UK: Indian-origin man who kept daughter in captivity for 30 yrs, led extremist cult, dies in prison

An Indian-origin man who led a secretive, extremist cult in the United Kingdom, died in prison on April 8. Aravind Balakrishnan was the leader of an extremist Maoist cult in London, and had reportedly even kept his daughter in captivity for over 30 years.

Balakrishnan, who was called Comrade Bala by followers, was jailed under multiple sexual assault cases. In 2016, he was sentenced to 23 years in prison for six counts of indecent assault, four counts of rape and two counts of actual bodily harm, as per a PTI report.

Balakrishnan died in custody at the HMP Dartmoor prison in south-west England.

Balakrishnan was born in a Kerala village, but grew up in Singapore and Malaysia.
He reportedly moved to the UK in 1963 to study at the London School of Economics.
At the institute, he met his future wife, Chanda. He reportedly began his cult in 1969, around the time of his marriage.

During his trial, Balakrishnan had rejected the rape charges and claimed that he had been "the focus of competition" between "jealous" women who made sexual advances towards him.