Cult leader who kept daughter captive for 30 years died of ‘natural’ causes

He was found dead by a fellow inmate at HMP Dartmoor in Devon in April 2022.

A Maoist cult leader who committed a string of sex assaults and kept his daughter captive for three decades was found dead in bed in his prison cell, an inquest heard.

Aravindan Balakrishnan, 81, called himself ‘Comrade Bala’ and brainwashed his cult into thinking he had godlike powers and could read their minds.

He was jailed for 23 years in 2016 following a trial at Southwark Crown Court, but was found dead by a fellow inmate at HMP Dartmoor in Devon in April 2022.

Devon Coroner’s Court heard he was on a wing for prisoners who were either in poor health or regarded as vulnerable.

The inquest heard he was suffering from diabetes and vascular dementia and was described as ‘pretty frail’.

After being alerted by the inmate, prison officers attempted CPR but were unable to revive Balakrishnan.

Devon and Cornwall Police were informed of his sudden death, but an investigation did not find any suspicious circumstances.

Pathologist Dr Russell Delaney found Balakrishnan had died from a lower respiratory tract infection, with secondary causes of vascular dementia, diabetes and ischemic heart disease.

No external injuries were found and a test for Covid-19 was negative.

Philip Spinney, senior coroner for Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, recorded a conclusion of natural causes, adding: ‘On April 8, 2022 Aravindan Balakrishnan was discovered deceased in his cell at HMP Dartmoor where he was serving a sentence of imprisonment. He died of natural causes and my overall conclusion will be natural causes.’

No members of his family attended the brief hearing at County Hall in Exeter.

Balakrishnan, previously of Enfield, London, had been convicted of four counts of rape, six counts of indecent assault, two counts of ABH, cruelty to a child under 16, and false imprisonment.

Following his sentencing, his daughter Katy Morgan-Davies waived her right to anonymity to speak out about the years of psychological and physical bullying she endured at her father’s hands.

She said: ‘It was horrible, so dehumanising and degrading. I felt like a caged bird with clipped wings.’

Balakrishnan was born in Kerala, India, before being raised in Singapore, where he moved with his father who worked at a British Naval Base.

The pensioner idolised tyrants Chairman Mao, Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot and Saddam Hussein and wanted to be ‘bigger than all of them’, his daughter said.

He ran his tiny south London cult, the Workers’ Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought, with an iron fist – banning his daughter from leaving the house or mixing with other children, and sexually assaulting two of his followers ‘by appointment’.

To keep his devotees in check, Balakrishnan invented an invisible war machine called Jackie which he said could kill or trigger earthquakes if anyone went against his will.

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