Indian Skeptic August 1993, vol. 6 no. 4,
pages 25-37.
Mr
B. Premanand wrote a letter to Shri M.P. Veerendra Kumar, Chairman &
Managing Director, Kozhikode on 7.8.1983:
"Dear
Friend
(…)
I am writing this letter so that you may know what is happening in the
education institutions run by Satya Sai Baba in the name of Spiritual
education.
A
lady teacher was brave enough to publish a printed notice on 6.3.1980 against
the management about the pay, and the pervert sex going on in the institution
at Puramala near Quilandy. I had published the notice in the booklet
"Kerala Satya Sai Trustinde Duswadheenam" on page 35 to 39. You know
I sent this booklet to you immediately it was printed in September 1981 along
with my letter dated 28.9.1981 and copies to 1) Mr. V.P. Ramachandran, Editor,
Mathrubhumi, 2) Mr. Chandran P.V., Printer and Publisher, Mathrubhumi, 3) Mr.
P. Chandu Nayar, President Prasanthividvan Mahasabha, Kozhikode whose false letter
published in Mathrubhumi of 14.8.1979 was the cause of my letters to you, 4)
Dr. P.B. Menon, Convenor, Satya Sai Trust Kerala who kept silent over my press
conference and made Mr. P. Chandu Nayar a scapegoat to publish falsehood in
Mathrubhumi and 5) Justice V. Balakrishna Eradi, deligated member of the
Central Satya Sai Trust as member of the Kerala Trust. You all received the
letters on the following days: yourself on 29.9.1981, Mr. P.V. Ramachandranl on
1.10.1981, Mrv P.V. Chandran on 30.9.1981, Mr. P. Chandu Nayar on 3.10.1981,
Dr. P.B. Menon on 29.9.1981 on 30.9.1981 and Justice V. Balakrishna Eradi on
30.9.1981.
I
made enquiries about Mr. P. Chandu Naya who falsely accused me through
Mathrubhumi Daily on 14.8.1979. I was surprised to know that he was in the
police department at Cochin and was forced to leave the services for some
activities at Malabar Hotel, Cochin and it was because of the influence of
Satya Sai Baba he escaped prosecution along with Mr. N.P. Naik a Customs
Clearing Agent and Mr. Iyer a magistrate. As the I.G. of police Trivandrum
refused to give me information on Mr. P. Chandu Nayar and I was advised by him
to write to Mr P. Chandu Nayar himself, I wrote a letter to Mr. P. Chandu Nayar
to know if the incident was true on 15.12.1979 received by him on 3.1.1980.
His
remaining so silent over the letter, points to the Truth behind it. It was this
Mr. P. Chandu Nayar’s letter that Mathrubhumi Daily published on 14.8.1979.
Later I was informed by the police department personally that information on
police personnel cannot be divulged to public except on written orders. This is
really a sad state of affairs as when photographs of the criminals are
exhibited in the police head-quarters, the public also ought to have been
warned about the police officers about their activities so that the general
public are not exploited by them. You know hundreds of women, unmarried girls,
widows, married women in search of peace and happiness, attend the meeting of
the Prasanthi Vidwan Mahasbha and what cannot happen there with persons like
Mr. P. Chandu Nayar? If the information I got on Mr P. Chandu Nayar is wrong I
would request him to write to me by giving me full detail s of the complaint
filed against him by the two anglo Indian girls from Calcutta who were staying
in Malabar Hotel at that time.
I
am coming to the purpose of writing this letter to you. I am so much upset by
this news. I have the records of more than a hundred persons destroyed by the
Satya Sai Baba gang beginning with one Mr. Venkatamuni of Madres who was done
away at Madurai in an air conditioned room and then after getting death
certificates from doctors taken to Madras by Satya Sai Baba in his own car and
cremated without giving any information to the police and thus hushing up the
matter. Afterwards the doctors who gave the death certificates aslo succumbed
to death. In these deaths the mode of operation is in five ways:
1.
Death by car accidents.
2.
Death by Heart failure.
3.
Death by poisoning.
4.
Death by hanging.
5.
Death by drowning.
In
the third para of this letter I have informed you about the notice distributed
by the lady teacher of the Satya Sai Vidya Peeth at Puramala near Quilandy. A
copy of that notice was sent to me by the husband of the lady teacher. Then
itself I had replied him that he being alone he will be harassed by the Satya
Sai Baba Trust who have high influence in Government, Police and Judiciary and
so he may loose his job also, thus to strangulate him economically and so he
should be careful. The press, especially Mathrubhumi who say that they stand
for Truth ought to have enquired into the matter published in the notice by
meeting the teachers who have been dismissed every year and also meet the
parents of the students who have stopped sending their wards to this school and
found out the Truth and published about such truth. Instead you know what you
are doing, you are publishing the letter of Mr. P. Chandu Nayar and the
divinity of Satya Sai Baba the self proclaimed god of all the gods. The copy of
my letter to you dated 28.9.1981 was posted to five others as mentioned in para
3 of this letter. You also know that I have filed a complaint with the Press
Council of India, because your editor Mr. V.P. Ramachandran didnot publish my
reply to the letter of Mr. P. Chandu Nayar which was totally false even if you
take into consideration or the news published by you earlier beginning from
1970.
Because
the Press Council had accepted my complaint, I thought that witnesses may be
necessary and I wrote a letter to Mr. Chandrachoodan who was the husband of the
teacher who was dismissed for the notice. The letter came back with the
inscription "EXPIRED". So I again wrote to his wife and I was shocked
to know that she also expired. When I enquired I found that the whole family, Mr.
& Mrs. Chandrachoodan and their 4 year child died of poisoning at Palani on
30.10.1981 just one month from the date of receipt of my letter of 28.9.1981 by
Justice V. Balakrishna Eradi, Dr. P.B. Menon and P. Chandu Nayar. I am informed
that the cause for death was unknown. From the investigations I have conducted
about the hundreds of such deaths who once were with Satya Sai Baba, I have to
doubt that this is also a murder as they were in the know of what was happening
in the school. The police have simply closed the case as suicide by poison.
After coming to know of this death I searched the old copies of the newspapers
and found that this death news was published by Mathrubhumi and Malayala
Manorama on 4.11.1981. Luckily I had purchased some copies of this days newspapers
as the news of gifting 13 acres of our land in Shrishaila to Keltron so that it
would help about 400 families to earn their livelihood by sweat.
You
know about Rev. Jim Jones who spent huge sums to bring to his fold the
newspapers who published against him. Even the American Government gave Jim
Jones awards for his humanitarian work! But it was the braveness of a few
journalists and a councellor who could not be purchased by money or any other
bait who exposed him at the risk of their life. Whole bunch of the group were
shot by the Jim Jones gang but because in their dare devil fight three could
survive the whole gang committed suicide as they could not face the people and
the world!
What
is happening here about Satya Sai Baba is not different. The corrupt people in
the government and outside are helped to come out of the charges against them
and in their turn they become the inner circle members of the Satya Sai Baba
and afterwards blackmailed for life. If some of them try to struggle out from
the octopus paws of this god they are done with. In the beginning he had tried
to play with our life also but because of the vast publicity we got we are
still living. I also understand that at the last years meeting of the Satya Sai
Baba inner circle members I was the main point for discussion as to why I am
left scot free. I am now starting my tour all over India to demonstrate all the
miracles of Satya Sai Baba and other godmen and expose them and talk on
"Scientific Temper". I know it is at the risk of my life. But death
is imminent to ever one, even if you believe or not in gods, godmen or miracles
and so I march on…
By
the time you receive this letter hundreds and thousands of copies of his letter
will have reached my friends and well wishers and I want to know what you have
to say about the matter and I hope to receive your letter and so also from the
under mentioned persons if there is even a speck of untruth in this pointing
that to me. Please let me know what you are going to do in this.
Yours
sincerely,
B.
Premanand.
Copy
to:
1.
Mr. P.V. Ramachandran,
Editor, Mathrubhumi, Kozhikode 673 001
2.
Mr. P. Chandu Nayar,
3/56 Cannanore road, Calicut 673 011
3.
Dr. P.B. Menon,
Convenor, Sri Satya Sai Trust, Kerala, Geetha Eye
Hospital, Chalapuram, Kozhikode 673 002
4.
Mr. Justice V.
Balakrishna Eradi, Supreme Court of India, New Delhi
5.
Editor, Sanathana
Sarathi, Prasanthinilayam Post
6.
Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai
Baba, Prasanthinilayam Post.
At
that time I had come across only five ways of murders at the ashrams and
educational institutions of the godman and now we have to add two more, i.e.
murder by burning and murder by police shooting. The murder by burning after
murder, was published in Indian Skeptic first issue of may 1988, and though the
students of the Junior college agitated the case was hushed up by the police as
suicide by burning.
The
first murder I came across was the case of a business man found hanging in the
ashram premises. Then another hanging by a girl at the Satya Sai Women’s
College at Anantapur and the then principal of the college Mrs. Damayanti
Doongaji resigned from the institution.
Only
two newspapers had published about the homosexual activity of the Baba. The
following letters from Hariram Jayaram from Malaysia dated 14.3.1981 being from
an advocate of repute who earlier wanted to take legal action against V.
Veeramanai, Secretary, Dravida Kazhakam, should be an eye opener to the parents
who send their wards to the Baba’s educational institutions.
Page
30 shows a copied letter from Ram Rais & Yap, advocates and solicitors,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, dated 14th March 1981:
"Dear
Mr. B. Premanand
Your
name has been given to me by Mr. V.A. Menon, the editor of Dr. Kovoor’s books.
I
understand that you have written two books, namely, "Lure of
Miracles" and "Divine Octopus". I am enclosing herewith the UAB
Bank Draft No. 16/043/406 for Rs.50/-. Please despatch these books by Airmail
to me. If the sum I have remitted is not sufficient, kindly let me know the sum
due from me and I will make payment of the same promptly.
Mr.
V.A. Menon has informed that you know Sathya Sai Baba very closely.
I
was until recently an ardent follower of Sathya Sai Baba. To my surprise and
that of the surprise of his many devotees in Malaysia, Sathya Sai Baba carried
out homosexual activities on the Malaysian students studying in his Colleges.
When I came to know of the same, I dropped out from the Sai movement.
Many
people in this Country are looking for materials on Sathya Sai Baba to read and
circulate. Your two books will be of great help to me. I already have in
possession, Dr. Kovoor’s books and the "Lord of the Air" by Tal
Brooke. If you have any other materials in the form of newspaper cuttings
please let me have them or send the photostat copies of the same to me. The materials
can be in English, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu or Kannada.
All
expenses incurred by you in obtaining the materials will be paid for by me.
Kindly
let me hear from you.
Yours
faithfully,
HARIRAM
JAYARAM"
When
a lady teacher published about the dark side of the Baba’s educational
institution in Kerala, she was dismissed and later newspapers published that
she committed suicide along with her husband and child. When I came to know
about this I found some of the Baba’s inner circle members were also camping at
Palani and the way in which the police conducted the post mortem and inquiries
suppressing the reports even to the family members brings suspicion. What is
needed is an inquiry into the educational institutions of the Baba by persons
who are not connected with him in any manner and who could not be purchased.
Now even those who are out of grace are afraid to talk anything against him and
this is what one of the earlier personal aide of the Baba M. Krishna had to say
bout his experiences which is published in the book Modern Miracles.
Page
165: Then some years later, Krishna fell into disgrace. And when Baba sent him
out, the reason was that Swami accused him of misbehaving with an old woman of
60, a servant in the temple, in the mandir. And do you believe this story?
Certainly don’t. Krishna is one of the very few people Baba has been very close
to. At one time he was even carried with Baba in the palanquin during
processions. "What Arjuna was to Krishna, Krishna is to me," Baba
used to say. I do not think anyone has been so close to Swami after him.
Perhaps Raja Reddy later on, but Krishna was the last person with whom that
close youth friendship was there.
(…
Etc.)
DECCAN
CHRONICLE – 10.6.1993:
They
(police officers) talk of "murky happenings" in the ashram over the
last few years. In this context , the revelation made by a doctor of the nearby
government civil hospital is startling. The doctor said a number of
unidentified dead bodies particularly those of women, were brought to the
hospital from Prashanti Nilayam by the police in the past. Post mortem on the
bodies mostly revealed death due to suspicious circumstances and signs of rape,
he said.
SUNDAY
– 20-26 June 1993:
Gossip
had it that several boy students at the educational institutions run by the
Baba had committed suicides after being sexually abused. But the reports were
not shored up by any evidence, and the ashram authorities soon succeeded in
suppressing them.
INDIAN
EXPRESS – 2.7.1993
THE
MAFIA SET-UP: Prabhu and Ravindranath charge that the Satya Sai Seva
Organisation, and the Prashanti Development Committee and the trust are led by
people who packed he ashram with their henchmen. Devotees who oppose them are
sent out, they allege.
Some
of the trust members can be charged with rape, murder and pilfering of funds.
Both the fugitives estiamte the trust funds to be Rs.500 crore in cash alone. A
trust member’s son-in-law runs a hotel at Puttaparthy where various nefarious
activities are allegedly conducted.
A
Congress leader in Bombay takes care of immovable properties offered to Sai
Baba from abroad. All such properties in the country or abroad are registered
in the name of individual trustees or their men At Guindy, in Madras, one of
them have built a factory on such property. In Bangalore, 10 acres prime land
near Whitefield was used for constructing flats for NRIs, the two allege.
CRIMINAL
ACTIVITIES: Local thugs are engaged to murder marked foreign devotees, the
victims faces are burnt beyond recognition and their bodies are disposed of in
the nearby hills, they allege.
Prashanti,
a doctor, was recently sacked after she lodged a complaint that another doctor,
close to a trust member, tried to rape here. The trust instead charged her with
having illicit relations with a van cleaner.
The
body of a murdered woman, a foreigner, was also found in the ashram. Following
this, Baba asked the devotees not to stay in Prasanti Nilayam during his
absence. Another foreign woman lodged a complaint against an important trust
member alleging a molestation attempt. Two drivers who knew too much about the
goings-on were sacked. And scores of ardent devotees were thrown out of the
ashram, Prabhu and Ravindranath alleged.
In
spite of Baba’s no to site near the ashram which the trust wanted to acquire,
the owner of the shop situated on the plot was threatened. The Gopuram gate was
closed, as a result of which he began losing business. Moreover devotees were
told not to go to his shop and violators of this unwritten law were punished,
they say.
They
say Baba won’t touch a single paisa of lakhs of donations paid to him at the
ashram every day. But the trust members ask donors to give travellers cheques
only which are easy to embezzle, they claim.
DECCAN
HERALD – 18.7.1993
Residents
of Puttaparthi will tell you that it is now a "public secret" that
there are two groups among those who run the day-to-day affairs at Prasanthi
Nilayam. One of the factions represents the interests of a very close relative
of Sai Baba and the other is on the side of another band of individuals holding
sway over the ashram.
Both
factions however comprise people drawn from various walks of life including
former and present bureaucrats, retired defence officers and top businessmen.
An insider informed this corespondent that these people cared more for the
patronage of powerful politicians than the blessings of Baba.
The
prime concern of these rival groups, according to the insider, is to retain a
hold on the massive assets of Prashanthi Nilayam, the value of which runs into
thousands of crores of rupees.
Ironically,
these groups are responsible for raising the stink even as Baba continues on
his life’s mission of spreading the "fragrance of love" for humanity.
Over
the years, the shady goings-on in the ashram have surfaced several times, but
they have remained a secret as the police were rarely allowed to intervene even
if they smelled something foul.
The
local people have any number of stories relating to unnatural deaths from the
ashram that often go uninvestigated. The Chitravathi river that passes through
Puttaparthi, they say, has carried along with it many unidentified floating
bodies.
There
are much more allegations coming in the press which we shall bring before our
readers on a future date.
B.
Premanand