Kyodo via Yahoo: AUM follower found dead in bathtub possibly due to 'training'
A male follower of the AUM Shinrikyo group, which has been renamed Aleph, was found dead in a bathtub at the group's facility in Tokyo on Sunday, the police said. While the police are investigating the specific cause of death, group members suggested he may have died from an accident while going through "thermal training" in which followers soak for long hours in hot water with temperatures of about 50 C.
"To prevent unforeseen accidents, we have fully banned thermal training within our group," the group said in a statement issued Sunday. According to police investigators, an AUM follower called police at around midnight Saturday saying a fellow group member had died. Officers who arrived at the scene in Adachi Ward found the man dead in a bathtub. He was naked and did not have any noticeable external injuries, police sources said. AUM renamed itself Aleph in January 2000 to distance itself from its criminal image, but it remains under surveillance by the Justice Ministry's Public Security Intelligence Agency.