At the peak of these tensions, a circle of leading members of the Rajneeshpuram Oregon commune was arrested for crimes including attempted murder as part of the United States's first recorded bio-terror attack calculated to influence the outcome of a local election in their favour, which ultimately failed. Salmonella was deployed to infect salad products in local restaurants and shops, which poisoned several hundred people.[1] The Bhagwan, as Rajneesh was then called, was deported from the United States in 1985 as part of his Alford plea deal following the convictions of his staff and right hand Ma Anand Sheela, who were found guilty of the attack. The movement's headquarters eventually returned to Poona (present-day Pune), India.