Maoist cult leader was found dead in bed in prison cell, inquest hears

A Maoist cult leader jailed for a string of sexual assaults and for keeping his daughter captive for three decades was found dead in bed in his prison cell, an inquest has heard.

Aravindan Balakrishnan, 81, who called himself Comrade Bala and brainwashed his cult into thinking he had godlike powers and could read their minds, died at HMP Dartmoor in Devon on 8 April 2022.

The inquest in Exeter heard on Thursday that he died from a lower respiratory tract infection, with secondary causes of vascular dementia, diabetes and ischemic heart disease.

No external injuries were found and a test for Covid-19 was negative. Philip Spinney, a senior coroner for Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, recorded a conclusion of natural causes.

Balakrishnan was on a wing for prisoners who were either in poor health or regarded as vulnerable and was found by a fellow inmate. The inquest heard he had diabetes and vascular dementia and was described as “pretty frail”. After being alerted by the inmate, prison officers attempted CPR but were unable to revive Balakrishnan.

Devon and Cornwall police were informed of his sudden death, and an investigation did not find any suspicious circumstances.

Balakrishnan set up the Workers’ Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought in Brixton, south London, in 1974. He turned it into a secretive cult in which he led a group of about 10 women in what he believed was preparation for China to take over the world and create “an international dictatorship of the proletariat”.

He was jailed for 23 years in 2016 after a trial at Southwark crown court when he was convicted of four counts of rape, six counts of indecent assault, two counts of ABH, cruelty to a child under 16, and false imprisonment.

After his sentencing, his daughter Katy Morgan-Davies waived her right to anonymity to speak out about the years of psychological and physical bullying she endured at her father’s hands. “It was horrible, so dehumanising and degrading. I felt like a caged bird with clipped wings,” she said. Morgan-Davies said her father was “a narcissist and a psychopath” and called on him to “recognise what he did was wrong”.

Balakrishnan idolised Chairman Mao, Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot and Saddam Hussein and wanted to be “bigger than all of them”, his daughter said.

He ran the cult with an iron fist, banning his daughter from leaving the house or mixing with other children, and he sexually assaulted two of his followers “by appointment”.

To keep his devotees in check, Balakrishnan invented an invisible war machine called Jackie, which he said could kill or trigger earthquakes if anyone went against his will.

The coroner said: “On 8 April 2022 Aravindan Balakrishnan was discovered deceased in his cell at HMP Dartmoor where he was serving a sentence of imprisonment. He died of natural causes and my overall conclusion will be natural causes.”

No members of his family attended the brief hearing at County Hall in Exeter.