The founder of the Life Space self-enlightenment group on Monday denied responsibility for moving a member of the group from a hospital in Hyogo Prefecture to a hotel in Narita, Chiba Prefecture, where the man's mummified corpse was found earlier this month.

Koji Takahashi, who describes himself as a "guru," said in an interview with Kyodo News that he had given no instructions for Shinichi Kobayashi, a retired company worker, to be moved to the Narita hotel where he subsequently died.

According to police, Kobayashi, then 61, collapsed in late June after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage and was taken to a municipal hospital in Itami, Hyogo Prefecture. He was removed from the hospital by followers of Life Space, including his own son, on July 2.