Assassination Plot
After the jury decision, Ma Anand Sheela gathered an inner circle of at least three or four women followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh at Rajneeshpuram and assembled a hit list of enemies of the organization. In total the former personal secretary to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh along with three others planned to murder nine people. This list included journalist for the Portland paper The Oregonian, Leslie Zaitz, United States Attorney Charles Turner, Oregon Attorney General David Frohnmayer, Rajneesh's former secretary Laxmi Thakarsi Kuruwa (Ma Yoga Laxmi), and Helen Byron along with her daughter Barbara who had testified on her behalf at trial.
Frohnmayer was originally intended to be the first murder victim, but Turner was made the primary target because the followers believed there were soon to be federal indictments against the organization. Sheela and three other individuals purchased handguns in Texas, obtained false identification in New York, and waited near Turner's house in Portland. In addition to Sheela, other followers involved in the plot reportedly included Ma Shanti Bhadra (Catherine Jane Stork) and Ma Yoga Vidya (Ann Phyllis McCarthy). The assassination plot against Turner was never carried out, and actions against others on the list were never fully executed.
Read more about this topic: Byron V. Rajneesh Foundation International
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