Swami Premananda of Trichy

Premananda is the monastic name of self-styled godman Prem Kumar who previously ran an Ashram in the Tiruchirapalli district of Tamil Nadu, India until his conviction on multiple counts of rape and murder in 1997. [Double life sentence for Premananda DECCAN HERALD Thursday, August 21, 1997 DH News Service CHENNAI, Aug 20]

Born on November 17, 1951 in Matale, Sri Lanka to a family originally from India, he moved to Tamil Nadu and set up an Ashram near Tiruchirapally (Trichy) in the 1990s. Initially, the Ashram was noted for taking in orphans, especially girls from the local area as well as refugee families from Sri Lanka .Fact|date=August 2008

However, allegations concerning his inappropriate behavior towards the girls in the Ashram soon surfaced. After a thorough investigation in 1997, he was convicted on several counts of rape, possession of unauthorized foreign exchange and a single count of murder. Six others including an elderly uncle of Premananda, Mayilvaganam Pakkirisamy, were co-accused in the case. Pakkirisamy was sentenced to life in prison but died in 2001. Premananda is currently serving a double life sentence. He appealed the judgement to the Supreme Court of India but his conviction for rape and murder was upheld. [Deccan Herald 6 April 2005 ]

According to his devotees as well as eminent lawyer and former Law minister of India, Ram Jethmalani, the judgement is highly controversial. [Deccan Chronicle - 'Our Men in Black' 15 June 2005]

References

Relevant websites

* [http://www.justice-for-premananda.org Justice for Premananda campaign]
* [http://www.sripremananda.org official Sri Premananda website]
* [http://www.premananda-youth.org Premananda Youth]