The State - News from Oct. 17, 1985

A special Oregon grand jury investigating the activities of members of the Rajneesh sect opened its hearing with testimony from Swami Devaraj, personal physician to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, head of the 2,000-member commune. Devaraj, also known as Dr. George Meredith, said he expected to testify that former leaders of the sect tried to poison him a year ago by injecting him with a substance that made him ill. More than 100 commune members have been subpoenaed to testify before the Wasco County Grand Jury and a federal grand jury that will meet in Portland next month to investigate allegations that Rajneesh defectors installed wiretapping devices throughout the commune and were responsible for a food poisoning outbreak that made 700 people in the area ill.