Tufts Buddhist Chaplain Ven. Vineetha Mahayaye was one of seven men arrested on Saturday by the Boston Police Department’s human trafficking unit for allegedly attempting to pay for sexual acts. Mahayaye resigned from his position at Tufts, which he had held since December 2024, on Monday.
Mahayaye, 32, pleaded not guilty and is set to appear in court on Sept. 2 on a misdemeanor charge of sex for a fee.
Mahayaye allegedly responded to an advertisement posted by undercover BPD officers on a website frequented by sex traffickers, along with four of the other accused men. The advertisements were created as part of a larger sting operation called Operation Red Card, aiming to crack down on sex trafficking in preparation for World Cup games held in the Boston area.
The individuals arrested allegedly requested a variety of sexual acts and offered to pay amounts between $125 to $400. According to police logs, the men were arrested at the Moxy Boston Downtown hotel, with several of them in possession of the exact amount of cash they had offered to pay.
“Yesterday, we were notified by Ven. Mahayaye Vineetha that he has resigned his position at Tufts University effective immediately,” Patrick Collins, executive director of media relations, wrote in a statement to the Daily.
In a university-wide email, University Chaplain Rev. Elyse Nelson Winger wrote that Mahayaye had resigned effective Monday and that a search for a new chaplain will happen this summer. She added that all Buddhist Chaplaincy programming will continue.
As of Tuesday, the Tufts website page for the Buddhist Chaplain redirected to a general listing of university chaplains that does not include Mahayaye.
An attorney for Mahayaye, Katherine Koontz, did not respond to an immediate request for comment.
