Yesterday, police searched the Koh Phangan home of Elise Dallemagne’s spiritual teacher.
The deceased Belgian tourist was a follower of Indian sect Sathya Sai Baba, whose devotees have an ashram on Koh Phangan, where Dallemagne, 30, often spent time over the last few years.
German expat Raaman Andreas, is the spiritual leader of the Koh Phangan group and saw Dallemagne a few days before her body was found in the jungle on Koh Tao.
A search of his Ao Thanoo-area home did not return anything suspicious, but police are trying to establish if her death could be linked in any way to her connection with the sect.
Though Andreas confirmed that he knew her and she had spent time there, he said that on her most recent visit in mid-April he was preoccupied preparing for his own upcoming trip and they didn’t talk much, he told UK newspaper The Mirror.
Reports say that Andreas left Thailand two months ago, just around the time of Dallemagne’s death. The foreign staff working at his house said that he was in India and they were unsure of his date of return.
Andreas told the UK paper that the deceased woman was happy when she parted ways with him and other sect members on April 17, when she said she was embarking on a trip back to Belgium. However, her body was discovered on the nearby island of Koh Tao on April 27
The German man said that Dallemagne always traveled alone.
