A cult leader who kept his daughter captive for three decades and raped several followers was found dead in his prison bed.

Aravindan Balakrishnan, previously of Enfield, called himself Comrade Bala and brainwashed his cult into thinking he had God-like powers and could read their minds, subjecting members to decades of abuse.

The 81-year-old died at HMP Dartmoor in April 2022, six years after he was jailed for 23 years, a Prison and Probation Ombudsman report has stated.

He had been convicted of four counts of rape, six counts of indecent assault, two counts of actual bodily harm, cruelty to a child under 16, and false imprisonment.

He ran his London cult, the Workers’ Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought, with an iron fist – banning his daughter from leaving the house or mixing with other children, and sexually assaulting 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.

Balakrishnan's daughter, Katy Morgan-Davies, previously waived her right to anonymity to speak out about the years of psychological and physical bullying she endured at her father’s hands.

She said: “It was horrible, so dehumanising and degrading. I felt like a caged bird with clipped wings.”

The ombudsman report stated that on April 8, 2022, Balakrishnan’s prison buddy found him dead in his bed.

On August 1 this year, an inquest concluded that he died from natural causes.