‘Universal energy’ healer remanded for sexual abuse charges
An individual who claimed to be able to heal diseases utilizing what he described as “universal energy” was remanded until September 20 by Kuliyapitiya Additional Magistrate Mihil Chiranthana Satharasinghe yesterday.
The 37-year-old suspect, a father of one, runs an institution called Vishmitha Vedamadura in Kuliyapitiya. He was arrested on the basis of a complaint made by the victim’s mother to the Police that he had sexually assaulted the victim.
The suspect has been arrested on charges of having displayed sexually explicit material to an underage girl and allegedly sexually molesting her.
Police informed the Magistrate that it has been revealed that the child has been sexually abused by the suspect on many occasions for about two years. “The victim girl was influenced by showing sexual videos of other young girls through the suspect’s mobile phone. In this way, information was revealed about certain girls who were sexually abused by the said suspect,” the Police further added. The Police also stated that a separate investigation has been initiated to identify those girls and to record statements from them.
Counsel appearing on behalf of the victim girl informed the Magistrate that the suspect had recorded a video of the victim while she was asleep with her clothes in a state of disarray, when her mother had not been at home. The prosecution also told the Court that the suspect is a person who uses technology to the maximum level and has given a lot of publicity to it by creating various videos.
Counsel appearing for the suspect said that he (suspect) has earned a name by healing thousands of patients with ‘universal energy’ and even earned the title of honour for practicing medicine. After taking the facts into consideration, the Magistrate rejected the bail application made on behalf of the suspect.