The State : Bhagwan Aide Is Deported

Ma Anand Sheela, the fiery former secretary to Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, was released from the San Diego Metropolitan Correctional Center for good behavior and was immediately deported. The Indian-born Sheela, 39, who served 2 1/2 years of a 4 1/2-year term after pleading guilty to various crimes, including attempted murder and wiretapping, was turned over to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, which put her on a plane for Frankfurt, West Germany. INS officials said Sheela paid $1,356 for her airline ticket. Part of her plea agreement with Oregon and U.S. officials was that she be deported immediately upon her release and that she stay out of the United States for five years. Rajneesh, now at a commune in India, allowed Sheela iron-handed control of as many as 4,000 of his followers who lived at the sect’s central Oregon commune, which has since closed. Sheela maintains she is innocent and pleaded guilty only to protect Rajneesh. Upon learning of the deportation, Oregon Atty. Gen. Dave Frohnmayer said the chances of getting $270,000 in fines that Sheela owes the state have been “substantially reduced.”