INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A controversial spiritual leader, whose supporters believe he is the reincarnation of Buddha, has been arrested in Nepal over sexual abuse
district, south of the capital Kathmandu.CNN has been unable to reach Bomjan for comment and was not able to determine if he has a
They say they also seized more than a dozen mobile phones, five laptops and tablets, and more than $200,000 in Nepali and foreign currencies
at his home.This comes nearly two decades after he first gained international attention
In 2005, at the age of 15, he retreated into the jungle to pray for 10 months, local media reported at the time
His followers once claimed that he did so without food, sleep or water.Those claims were never independently verified, but it led some to
laud him as the reincarnation of Siddhartha Gautama, who was born in Nepal some 2,500 years ago, and later became known simply as Buddha,
India traveled to see him while he was in the jungle.Bomjan began preaching about two years later attracting an audience of about 3,000
people during his first sermon, according to his website
He and his supporters then set up a network of ashrams around Nepal dedicated to his teachings.But in recent years, Bomjan has been dogged
by allegations of wrongdoing
sexual abuse charges relate to a nun, who in 2018 publicly accused him of raping her at one of his ashrams when she was a minor.At the time,
