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Mumbai cult: Sex clip leads crime branch team to Delhi, police to talk to ‘ensnared’ Malad sisters

Hindustan Times/April 24, 2017

By Manish K Pathak

Days after Shifu Sunkriti cult leader Sunil Kulkarni was arrested, the Mumbai crime branch has sent a team to Delhi to investigate further.

Mumbai police said they found a sex clip in Kulkarni’s phone and pen drive when they searched his Bandra apartment. They suspect that the man and woman in the clip are residents of Delhi, where Kulkarni lived for a while. They have sent the phone and other seized material to the state forensic laboratory in Kalina.

Searches conducted at Mumbai had led the police to find several medicines, which Kulkarni allegedly gave the women who joined his cult.

So far, Kulkarni has been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) in Delhi. He was later granted bail.

Police said they will search his Delhi residence to gather evidence against him. They will also speak to the Delhi police to find out more.

Police will also record the statements of the Malad sisters aged 21 and 23 years, whose parents filed a petition in the Bombay high court, saying Kulkarni had ‘entrapped’ their daughters. The couple claimed their daughters’ behaviour “changed drastically after attending the activities of the cult”.

“They abandoned their studies and threatened to commit suicide when the parents thought of approaching the police. They even lodged a complaint against their parents, alleging domestic abuse and wrongful confinement,” states the plea.

The Mumbai police have filed a case under sections 328 (causing hurt by means of poison with intent to commit an offence), 370 (trafficking), 292 (sale of obscene books act), 420 (cheating) Indian Penal Code and other sections of the Information Technology Act at the Malad police station.

What we know about the cult

  • The cult operated from a Facebook page. Joining it was as easy as leaving your number on the forum, said the parents of two women who are members of Shifu Sunkriti. Kulkarni would call those who had left their numbers and brief them about his organisation
  • The cult’s Facebook page contains provocative and sexually explicit messages.
  • Public prosecutor RY Suryavanshi said Kulkarni would prescribe sedatives to his followers, mostly between 18 to 25 years of age, on the pretext of treating them. “He would then influence the youth to agree to sexual activities,” Suryavanshi said.
  • Several of the youth who were living with Kulkarni are now untraceable, he added.    
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