Kumar Bahukhandi
Vilavan Msawat – Photo: Facebook/Vilavan Msawat
Thailand: A woman named Vilawan Amsawat in Thailand is accused of having sexual relations with nine monks and blackmailing them. Police have recovered thousands of pornographic photos and videos from her, through which she blackmailed them for crores of rupees. These monks have been expelled from Buddhism.
Bangkok: A major blackmail scandal in Thailand has shaken the country. Police on Tuesday July 15 ,2025 arrested a woman who is accused of luring Buddhist monks into sexual relations and then blackmailing them for money. This case is also in the news because the monks have broken their vow of celibacy in it. According to the Central Investigation Bureau of the Royal Thai Police, nine prominent monks and senior monks of temples have been expelled from Buddhism due to this case.
Who is Vilawan Amsawat?
Vilawan Amsawat is a 35-year-old woman. She was arrested from her luxurious house in Nonthaburi near Bangkok. She has been accused of blackmailing, money laundering and possession of stolen goods. Police say that she had sexual relations with at least nine monks.
Videos of intimate relations with Buddhist monks found
When the police seized her mobile phones, they found messages and private videos in which she was allegedly seen having intimate relations with Buddhist monks. The investigation also revealed that she had spent a large part of the money received from blackmail on online gambling. Online gambling is illegal in Thailand.
The monk had gifted a car to Vilawan
According to ‘The Times’, some monks have admitted that they had relations with Vilawan. It is being told that she used to contact these monks through social media. A monk claimed that he had a long-term relationship with Vilawan and he had also given her a car. But when he came to know that she was also dating another monk, there was a quarrel between them and then the woman started asking for money from him.
80,000 pornographic files and blackmailing worth Rs 102 crore
According to the BBC report, the police believe that Vilawan has earned about 385 million baht (about Rs 102 crore) in the last three years. The police have found more than 80 thousand photos and videos from her house, in which she is involved in sexual acts with different Buddhist monks. She used these photos and videos for blackmailing.
Vilawan’s claim – a monk gave birth to a child
According to the Daily Star report, Vilawan claims that she also has a child, whom she gave birth to from a monk. The police said that this matter came to light in mid-June when a monk of a major temple in Bangkok suddenly left the monkhood. This happened at the same time, when a woman blackmailed him. It is being told that the head monk of Wat Trithotsthep temple had suddenly disappeared. Police say he fled to escape the woman’s blackmailing and now the woman is claiming that the same monk is the father of her child.
According to The Times, nine monks have been expelled from Buddhism in this case and two are still absconding. A committee of the Thai Parliament has suggested that the law should be changed so that cases can be registered against women who have sexual relations with monks. This proposal has angered the public, because they believe that men should take responsibility for their own actions.
Bangkok Post writer Sanitsuda Ekachai wrote, this scandal shows that a system of lies and hypocrisy exists among the top monks. The emergence of so many cases shows that this is not an isolated incident, but all this happens commonly within temples. Sanitsuda further writes, Women have long been seen as the ‘enemy’ of the spiritual purity of monks. On the walls of some temples, they have been depicted as snakes. This is the reason why even today women are not allowed to become nuns and now when the moral degradation of the religious leaders is out in the open, the blame is being put on women and the monks are being portrayed as victims.
More than 90 percent of Thailand’s population follows Buddhism and at any given time there are about 200,000 monks and 85,000 trainee monks in the country. There have been many scandals related to Buddhist monks in Thailand, often involving sexual relations or money fraud. These cases are common and such incidents keep coming to light even within the Buddhist Sangha. But this case is being considered special because it also involves monks holding very high positions.
