Report to Police: Assault 2

Was the Eviction Notice that was plastered all over Koregaon Park not received well?

Report to Police: Assault 2 on Prem Abhay Date: Monday 28 Jan 2008
Location: Osho International Meditation Resort, Pune, INDIA

After the first assault, I e-mailed the Resort requesting a mutually agreed place that I could distribute the Water Contamination Report. After a day (perhaps two), I went to the front gate and requested that I see someone about arranging this, having not received an email reply. The main gate guard said to go to the Welcome Centre and talk to the people their. I spoke to a lady at the Welcome Centre and she said Dhyanesh was coming to talk to me. I said I did not want to speak to this person about the matter as he had already been involved in an assault on me. She said that there was nothing to fear as there was plenty of people around. I disagreed with her.
Dhyanesh came and said ‘come let’s go…to the police’, among other things. I left the Welcome Centre assuming that we would be going to the police, which was fine with me. Outside the Welcome Centre, being escorted by Dhyanesh, I was met by Anand Titnavage(?); as I recall, he was waving a curtain-rod at me. Dhyanesh agreed with my suggestion that I distribute the report outside Sundarbaan Hotel. I recall that the first afternoon of doing this, Anand Titnavage came up to me, again threatening me with a curtain-rod.

Some days later I went to the front-gate to request the phone number of a resident. I called the resident from the front-gate phone, and as the phone was ringing, Anand Titnavage came up to me and started again threatening me with a curtain-rod. The main-gate guard said that I needed to leave, and called Dhyanesh; I left (before Dhyanesh could arrive).

Perhaps 10 days or so ago, one of the Security Guards (Anand Titnavage) made a leering remark (Baba!!) at me whilst I was walking along the street (near Sanai Complex). I was on the walkway on the other side of the road. I walked over to him and said please do not do this. I thought that was the end of the matter. However a few days ago, as I walked passed the front gate, this Security Guard again leered at me…Baba!! I then walked over to the main gate and explained to the person on duty that this is a recurring problem, and I want it to stop. Dhyanesh approached, and I explained the problem to him. He said that many people call him baba: implying that to do so was complimentary. I explained to him that the problem was the Security Guard said “Baba!”. I asked Dhyanesh to tell the Security Guard to leave me alone. Dhyanesh said something to the Security Guard (presumably in Hindi), and I walked off.

I have been calling a resident at the Resort over a number of weeks. Her name is Mukta and she is my friend. A few days ago I tried to call her from the back gate. The person at the back gate said to call from the security guard phone near the back gate. As I walked over to that phone the security guard received a call, and then hung up. I asked if I could use the phone and he said I could not. I went back to the back gate, and another person said that the back gate phone was for internal use only. He said that I could use the phone at the front gate. I asked who he was and explained that I had received conflicting messages from a number of guards at the back gate about the use of the phone. He said he was the ‘shift co-ordinator’.

Two days later, which is today ( approximately 4.30pm), I went to the front gate to phone Mukta. Dhyanesh was close-by, near the main gate guard. I phoned Mukta and she answered immediately. We had a conversation and were trying to arrange a time to meet. A Security Guard then came over and told me to hang up the phone. He took the phone as I was in mid conversation with Mukta, and he hung it up. He then grabbed me on the arm and started escorting me away from the phone. The phone then rang again. Presumably it was Mukta wondering why I had hung up on her.

I asked the guard to not touch me, and said that I would walk away: so there was no need to physically remove me. At some point he let go of me and Dhyanesh spoke to me. He said that I needed to listen to him. He said something like ‘do you know who I am’, among other things I can’t in this moment recall. After I listened to him I asked if I may explain something: that I was told by the “shift co-ordinator” that I could use this phone. Dhyanesh said that I could not speak. I remember then that the Security Guard struck at me with his fist. I recall that his fist struck my right hand above the wrist (it struck a leather band that I have on my wrist).
I backed out of this situation and Dhyanesh confronted me. He faced me and said something like ‘I will beat you’. The Security Guard than ran to his post and picked up a curtain rod. He ran back and ran at me threatening to strike me with it. I backed back down the road under threat. As I went back, another Security Guard came at me with a wooden stick. I backed back further down the road and then onto the footpath to the entrance of the hospital, with these two Secuity Guards threatening to attack me.. I said that I was backing back and there was no need to threaten me with a curtain rod and stick. At the entrance to the hospital I said that if you attack me I will attack (in self-defense).

As I understand it, people can in general use the back-gate phone. Hence I assume that me being denied access to the back-gate phone(s), and saying that I could use the front-gate phone, was a response to me personally. The question I am asking here is was I set up to go to the front-gate and therefore, was I the victim of a pre-meditated attack?

After the confrontation, I went to Nala Park. In Nala Park (the side with the Osho statue), I did my usual circuit. On the section where the path narrows, a person was approaching. When he was approximately 2 metres away I noticed that he had a pocket knife in his left hand. The blade was somewhat open (not fully, say 1/3 open). I immediately said hey what is this. He closed the blade shut and said that he was oiling it. After he had walked past I said to him basically that it was a little concerning having someone walking along with a half-open pocket knife. I finished my circuit, and this person was ahead of me to the entrance. He talked to the guard at the entrance. I can recall quite clearly the person’s appearance. Perhaps this situation was nothing at all. However just in case, I recount it here.

After walking in the park (perhaps 45 minutes later), I then came back past the Resort, thus completing the regular route of my morning and afternoon walk. I prefer not to walk the back-gate road and then along North Main Rd to reach the German Bakery lane because of the excess traffic. The first Security Guard I met told me that I cannot pass – I was walking on the bitumen. He motioned and said that I had to turn around. I said to him that I was walking along a public road, and told him to fuck off. I continued passed the Resort entrance, and made my way to the German Bakery.

I had a chai at the German Bakery and then typed this report.

I will send this report now, as per my usual procedure, to the Australian Federal Police, to Interpol, and to the Indian Central Bureau of Intelligence. In the morning I will lodge my second complaint to the Pune Central Police Station.

I make here also one remark that comes to mind. I have had issues with Osho International Meditation Resort. I have heard that the Resort is for sale for $375 million (I am assuming that to be US$). If the rumour is true, and there is a person or persons offering such an amount, and if they read my reports, they would change the offer to the value of the land less the cost of knocking down all the buildings. I guess this might take several hundred million US$ off the value of the Resort. That wouldn’t be very nice at all. Perhaps there is no truth in the rumours.

Yours sincerely,
Prem Abhay