YouTube Sermons, Spiked Milk: How IIT Graduate Built Cult To Exploit Women

A 29-year-old IIT graduate has been arrested in Mathura for posing as a spiritual guru, sexually exploiting young women, and using photographs and videos of the acts to blackmail them and their families.

The accused, identified as Abhishek Mishra of Odisha, operated under the religious alias "Adikarta Narayan Das." He holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Roorkee, where he studied between 2017 and 2021. Police acted on a formal complaint lodged by a young woman from Chhattisgarh and placed Mishra under arrest. A case of rape has since been registered against him.

How Abhishek Mishra Built His Following Online

Mishra had been living in the Radhakunj area of Mathura for roughly four years, presenting himself as a Kathavachak, or religious storyteller. To widen his reach, he ran a YouTube channel called "Radha Kripa Amrita," through which he broadcast sermons in both Hindi and English. He also maintained a professional profile on LinkedIn under his assumed name.

According to police, he used these platforms not merely to build a following but to identify and target young women, particularly those with engineering backgrounds.

Spiked Prasad And Forced Marriages

Police allege that Mishra would establish contact with women through his videos and then gradually manipulate them into cutting ties with their families and moving in with him. At his Mathura residence, around 24 young men and women were at one point living together.

Police say that once women were under his influence, he would propose a Gandharva Vivah, one of the eight classical types of Hindu marriage based on love, mutual consent, and use this as a pretext for exploitation. It is further alleged that he gave victims milk laced with intoxicants under the pretence of offering 'Prasad' before sexually assaulting them and recording the acts.

Obscene photographs and videos recovered from his mobile phone are now part of the police investigation.

Mishra allegedly extorted money from the families of those living with him and made repeated attempts to draw in other young women from the surrounding neighbourhood. Approximately six months before his arrest, the family of one of the women came to take her home. Police sources say Mishra and his associates created a ruckus.

His own mother, who had initially lived with him, eventually left the residence owing to her son's conduct, according to the police. While Mishra first lived in rented accommodation in the area, he later built his own house.

Most of those who had been residing with Mishra gradually left after growing suspicious of his behaviour, police said, adding that he had used to brainwash them to keep them loyal to him initially.

An investigation is currently underway to establish precisely how many women were targeted and exploited by the accused.