Who is Ma Anand Sheela’s husband John Shelfer?
Ma Anand Sheela is the Indian-born spokeswoman of the controversial Rajneesh movement (aka Osho movement).
Known for her divisive role in the widely-talked about Netflix documentary Wild Wild Country, Sheela is -but who is her ex-husband John Shelfer?
Who is Ma Anand Sheela’s husband John Shelfer?
John Shelfer was a former New York bank officer before he met the formidable Ma Anand Sheela.
After their marriage, he changed his name to Prem Jayananda & became President of Rajneesh Foundation International.
He usually signed bonds for the financial arm of Sheela’s company.
Jayananda was an executive in Rajneesh Services through at least October 1982, according to information Rajneeshee attorneys gave to the Oregon Government Ethics Commission.
During that same period, Jayananda also was vice president and later president, effective July 22, 1982, of Rajneesh Investment Corp.
Rajneesh Services stationery identified Jayananda as “non-executive director” in September 1983, but his name was crossed off in subsequent correspondence dated May 1984.
When did Ma Anand Sheela and John Shelfer get married?
Ma Anand Sheela and John Shelfer got married in December 1980.
Sheela was the right-hand woman of controversial cult leader and Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, more commonly known as Osho.
The couple later divorced after Shelfer admitted to fearing for his life during the marriage.
Sheela wanted to bump me off from 84. Why?? It was after I refused to help her kill anyone.
I knew a lot of what she had organized as far as dirty tricks go, and I did not want to be a witness to these in the state and federal courts. It could only hurt the commune and Osho’s reputation, and while I had little jeopardy, I would have had to spend years in Oregon in court at my expense and jeopardy.
“I left the ranch in late 85 after returning from Germany where I had been sent earlier in 85 by Sheela, ostensibly to be killed there,” he said
In 1986, she pleaded guilty to attempted murder and assault for her role in the 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack.
She was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison but paroled after just 39 months.
In 1999, she was convicted again by a Swiss court of “criminal acts preparatory to the commission of murder” in relation to a plot to kill US federal prosecutor Charles Turner in 1985
Do they have kids?
The pair do not have any children together.