JOIN USDeccan Herald had learnt of the meeting on Sunday and Geetha Reddy’s office confirmed the news on Monday. As to what transpired at the discussions held between the trio is unkown. Sources in Prashanthi Nilayam stating that the meeting lasted more than 30 minutes said: “Chakravarthy was quizzed on the financial operations of the Trust.”
Interestingly, Subramanya was heading the five-member team which had visited Puttaparthi on the second week of April to check, on behalf of the Andhra Pradesh government, the functioning of the Trust, with special focus on the finances. There were also reports in a section of the media that the Government was a considering a takeover of the Trust, if it was found to be violating the regulations under which a charitable trust is expected to work. Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, on Monday, in an official statement however claimed that there was no truth in any of the reports and that the Trust was functioning without violating any of the norms.
Registered as a charitable trust in 1972, the trust has been undertaking activities relating to education, health, medicine and welfare. It has taken up water projects, disaster relief et al, the statement said. Shankar Raju, nephew of Sai Baba (son of his older sister Venkamma) confided to Deccan Herald that members of the Trust included : Sathya Sai Baba (Founder Trustee), former Chief Justice of India P N Bhagawathi, Indulal Shah, former CVC S V Giri, former CII National President V Srinivasan and R J Ratnakar, Baba’s nephew (son of his younger brother Janakiramaiah).
In addition, the Trust has a Council of Management, which includes: S S Nagananda, a lawyer from Bangalore, J V Shetty, former Chairman of Canara Bank, T K K Bhagvat, former Chairman of Indian Overseas Bank and former IAS officer K Chakravarthy, who is the secretary of the Trust.
The aforementioned being largely elusive and the functioning of the Trust remaining a secret had, ever since the godman is admitted in the hospital, raised questions over the functioning of the Trust.
Caretaker’s access concerns devotees
One of Satya Sai Baba’s students has been allowed access to the ICU where the guru has been receiving treatment. The student, identified as Satyajit, has been alleged to have let the 85-year-old spiritual leader’s health to decline, though they have largely remained unfounded without evidence. Sathyajit, who has been “serving” the godman for over half a decade now, has been accused by a prominent Andhra politician, among others, as “the reason for Baba’s bad health.” However, Dr Safaya said: “He is the only person who is in a position to comprehend what Swami is communicating... Satyajit deciphers the gestures and articulates it to us so that we can administer better treatment.”