Ram Bd Bamjan's aides free Slovak woman

who is also being held captive by Bamjan’s followers, is still unknown.

The two women were taken hostage by the followers of Bamjan, who have formed Bodhi Shrawan Dharma Sangh to what they say protect ‘Buddha Boy’, on charges of distracting the man in meditation in the Halkhoriya jungle.

Inspector KP Sharma of Area Police Office, Simara, who met Marichi at Lama Hotel this morning, told mediapersons that the Slovak woman looked tense. “She said she was kept in a tank in a ditch in Halkhoriya,” said Sharma.

Krishna Lama, who owns Lama Hotel, said a man identifying himself as Darshan Limbu from Bodhi Shrawan Dharma Sangh had left her in the hotel. “He appeared out of the blue on a motorbike last night, dropped her and left,” said Lama. Marichi came to Nepal two years ago to pay visit to Bamjan, who has been meditating since 2005, but had gone missing since December 28.

A scared Marichi with a broken arm refused to talk to reporters and urged them not to photograph her. “I won’t say a thing; Sangh and Bamjan have forced me into the promise that I won’t open my mouth,” said Marichi who seems to have received injuries on her head as well.

She was too moved to speak when people close to her met her this morning. “She wept herself into a state of exhaustion as she said she was tortured,” said a local from Simara. “She said she felt like she was at death’s door.”

Marichi could not tell about the other missing woman. “They kept me in ignorance about the nun. She was kept captive somewhere else, not with me,” a local quoted her.

Bara SP Dan Singh Bohara said he had also interrogated Marichi and that investigation was under way.

Police later handed over Marichi to Birgunj-based Immigration Office as her one-year visa for Nepal has expired.

Though her visa had expired, the Slovak woman was meditating in the Halkhoriya jungle and during one of those days she was taken hostage by Bamjan’s followers accusing her ‘of being a witch’.

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