09/10/1998 - 2186

Girl Killed in Vrindavana, India

India (VNN) - Following are several reports about the disappearance of a girl in Vrindavana, which may serve as a warning to some unsuspecting pilgrims visiting India (names removed):

Dear Vaisnavis and Vaisnavas PAMHO AGTSP I have just received this sobering e-mail and wanted to send it to the devotees and potential pilgrims to India as a warning to be careful there. Anyway the story is pretty self-explanatory.
your servant (removed)

At 21:17 1/09/98 EDT, you wrote: Dear (removed) PAMHO AGTSP I spoke to (removed) last week and she told me a very disturbing story about the girl who was murdered in Vrndavana. Could you send me the details as I told the devotees here and they were shocked and wanted to know more details. I feel that the devotees should know about the dangers of travel and so would like to post the story to inform and educate others. So strange to die in Vrndavana is to attain liberation but what a horrible way to go. ys (removed)

Haribol mataji,

PAMHO., AGTSP.,

What I'll do is enclose a letter for you from (removed), who I approached for help in finding this girl under the sanction and direction of Shirley & Alan Routley and InterPol. (removed) probably told you how she mentioned to the parents of Diane Routley that because I'd been to India on "several occassions", lived there for four years and travelled extensively the length and bredth of the country both as a devotee and before as a hippy, that I might have some insights as to what could have happened to the missing girl.

Diane was 24 years of age, reasonably attractive, warm friendly and an experienced/seasoned traveller. She'd been all over South East Asia , Africa, the Americas, and Europe on her own, meeting people, making friends, working and travelling on to the next place. She encountered challenges, but had become resourceful and mature in solving them herself.

So you get the picture of her.........!???

In July 1997 she set out from England with a six month visa to visit India, visit some of the Holy places, see some sights, and do a bit of shopping. She left England with a return ticket for December 23rd 1997., on a KLM flight, and $2000 in travelers cheques.

Diane had some kind of plan that she would go to Delhi, from there to Vrindavan, Varanase (Benares), up to Darjeeling, etc. Upon her arrival in New Delhi she was given an idea of a reasonable guest house to stay in, in the touristy area of Darya Ganga (I've stayed there it is LOW CLASS nest of flee pits and den of thieves. However, as usual the rickshaw walla from the airport took her to a guest house that he was commissioned to of a similar name.......! Fried, she checked in and stayed there. While staying there one of the usual types latched onto her and became her friend and guide.......(you, like I have I'm sure encountered hundreds like this). This fellow, whose name escapes me, then asked her if she wanted to be shown around, if she wanted to purchase any silks, etc., and took her around. Becoming more and more friendly with her he gained her trust. Soon it was time to slip her some kind of drug into some food, or drink and take her to his home along with three other men. According to Indian police forensic scientists, the next thing that Diane probably knew was waking up in a remote village somewhere in Vrindavan. Whether it was in resiting sexual advances, or in being held captive (no-one will know) she was banged on the head, a blow that killed her. Now bear in mind that this guy has a wife and children in Vrindavan, at the same house, WHO SAW AND HEARD NOTHING, and then Diane's $2000 travellers cheques are cashed in nearby Jaipur, and then this fellow kind of disappeared from the area of usual haunts for some time, people began to become suspicious and put two and two together.

The ridiculous thing is that from New Zealand Alan (the father) had contacted the police to check and go here and there, and they supposedly did (did they !@#$^&*????). It finally took alan three trips to India and one trip to Nepal and thousands of Rupees of bribes to finally get a link that Diane had stayed in the Vishnu guest house in Darya Ganj and had been seen with this sleeze ball.

Police finally tracked him down, "interviewed him" with bamboo canes (if you know what I mean) to which he finally confessed to the InterPol questioning (who must know some real tender parts of the body). This fellow then took police to his own house and showed them a grave that he had dug inside one of the rooms, where they found her decomposed remains. The remains were found in July 1998, forensic tests state she was killed for her money on 23rd August 1997., just about ten days after arriving in India. The man who is no in police incarceration was found with MANY other passports of foreign nationals, travellers cheques, and cash.

The incident was featured on a program called Assignment, and along with Diane's disappearance it was mentioned the case of four other families who are trying to find their children also. A police spokesman from Interpol said that as many as 1000 young foreign nationals either get abducted, robbed, and or killed each year in India. With the influence of the movies the people have become morally indifferent to what they see everyday on the big screen. Western women are considered easy prey, and westerners in general are a good source of income, be it legal or illegal.

Mataji I hope that this prepares some of your friends for the way India has become degraded further. Here's that message from my friend in Jaipur:

[Text 1619836 from COM]
From (removed) TP in Jaipur, India.

Dear (removed),

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I'm presuming you have already been informed by the police that the girl you were enquiring about had been murdered in Varanasi. There was an article in yesterday's newspaper in which the police had arrested the four men involved after finding the girl's skeletal remains. From what I understand the parents should have already been contacted by now.

By and large, India has generally been quite safe for foreigners in the past, but the law and order situation has deteriorated tremendously over the last 5-6 years to the extent that some parts of the country, especially UP and Bihar and even Delhi to some extent, are no better than many places in the Middle East.

I don't have details, but should she have been killed in Varanasi there is a good chance of a decent birth in her next life. Unfortunately, the material world is a dangerous place "padam padam yad vipadam na tesam" Please convey our condolences to the girls parents. Hari Bol

Your servant, (removed)

.....and my brief purport to all that is don't travel alone, don't go out at night, be careful where and what you eat or drink, never accept food or rides in vehicles from strangers. Keep the bulk of your moiney safely close to your body and don't reveal it to anyone, and work out of a small purse or bag that gives people the idea that's all you have. Tone down the western image of oppulence a little - don't advertise cameras, rolex watches, video cameras, computers, etc., or people will start to see not what you have as they do in the west, but how much they can get for what you HAD.

On the more positive note: Most people are really nice, they're like devotees, obviously of different natures and character, but devotees nonetheless. So be resepectful, courtious, etc. Have a great time in India, absorb yourself in Krishna and His pastimes, He's given you such a wonderful opportunity to visit that place, the place of so many of His divine pastimes. Take shelter of Him there, and He will look after you. Always remain in the association of devotees, and you won't go far wrong!!!!