Donor influenced by guru centre wins his own house back

Of course, Brahma Kumari adherents will argue that the BKWSU has "no gurus". No, they only have "we-have-no-guru" gurus but are their Dadis and center-in-charges not just the same?

Hope to adherents of cults who are duped into giving over all their money and property to their leaders ... to the best of my knowledge the Brahma Kumaris don't even encourage followers to seek independent legal advice and would doing so not be a sham after one has been indoctrinated with BK beliefs about Shrimat, manmat and non-BKs being ignorant shudras?

Donor influenced by guru centre wins his own house back

A former RAF officer persuaded to give his home to a spiritual healing centre has spoken out for the first time. Richard Curtis, 53, won his house back last month after bringing a court case for undue influence against the Self-Realization Meditation Healing Centre. The Somerset-based centre, a registered charity, is appealing against the ruling. Mr Curtis, from Brecon, told the BBC's Inside Out West programme he wants the law on charity donations to be changed. He said: "I am fighting a battle not just for myself but for all the other people that have given all to god and guru and been left with nothing."

Since 2004 the centre had introduced a requirement that anyone wishing to donate to the centre must first seek independent legal advice and the centre based in Queen Camel, near Yeovil, has lodged an appeal against the High Court judgement that its "undue influence" had been present when Mr Curtis signed a declaration of trust gifting the family home in Edwinsford near Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire, in 2004.

"We did not seek legal advice, because we were enraptured," said Mr Curtis."We had a guru working with us and for us who had a direct link to god. What she said was good enough at the time." An investigation by Inside Out West has uncovered a number of similar complaints made against the centre by former members. Lizzie Davies, from Bath, was given an out-of-court settlement for £690,000 by the centre in 1996 after she claimed she had handed over her savings to the centre while under undue influence. It accepted no liability in agreeing the settlement. She said of her decision to leave the centre in 1993: "I had nothing. I had absolutely nothing and I found the courage to leave".

A spokeswoman for the Charity Commission said they had identified areas of significant concern with the apparent lack of management control by the entire trustee body over the charity's affairs.

Alistair Mclean, of the Fundraising Standards Board, said: "The use of undue influence in soliciting donations from beneficiaries is quite simply unacceptable".

I, too, was a victim of this and was left with nothing. I think there does need to be a law on charity donations. But I also think that the Brahma Kumaris should be investigated by the human rights team because not only did they strip me and my family of physical wealth, but they stripped me of my childhood, adulthood and the very core of my being to the extent that I became zombified.