A CULT leader threatened his daughter with death after she revealed she had a crush on former mayor of London Ken Livingstone, a court heard yesterday.

Aravindan Balakrishnan, 75, known as Comrade Bala, allegedly convinced his followers that he was god-like and could read their minds, jurors heard.

He forced his followers and daughter to bend to his will by inventing a mythical entity known as Jackie who could read their thoughts and kill them, London’s Southwark Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Rosina Cottage QC said that Mr Bala told his daughter to tell him immediately if she ever dreamt about someone else.

But when she confessed her feelings towards the left-wing Labour politician, her father said she was “getting flu because she was being unfaithful” and that Jackie was preparing to execute her.

Ms Cottage told the court: “The defendant had told her when she was about 13 years’ old that she should not dream about someone else and that if she did she should tell him straight away so that he could protect her from having crushes.

“So, she told him that she had a crush on Ken Livingstone. She thought that if she wrote it down in a nice way then he would be nice and understand.

“After that she came down with the flu and he said that Jackie was preparing to execute her for going against the defendant and having a crush on Ken.

“He said that she was getting flu because she was being unfaithful to him, the centre of the world.”

Mr Balakrishnan, of Enfield, north London, denies seven counts of indecent assault and four counts of rape against two women during the 1970s and ’80s.