Sai Trust to get new chairman next week

No successor: Sathyajit a staffer chosen for personal work, says Trustee

Stating that the 85-year-old miracle worker had no successor in mind, they ruled out there being any truth in reports of Baba having left a will in the name of his caregiver Sathyajit.

“He (Sathyajit) was just an ‘employee’ of the Trust chosen by Baba for some personal work and nothing more,” they said, adding that Satyajit was with Baba for over two decades but there was no decision on inducting him into the Trust.

Supreme Court advocate S S Naganand, who is on the Trust’s council management said the Trust deed executed by the Baba had clearly specified the role of the trustees and the trustees would, based on the deed, take care of the activities of the Trust.
The Centre and the Andhra Pradesh Governments, the trustees said, have made it clear that they will neither takeover nor interfere with the matters of the Trust.

Addressing the media for the first time, the trustees clearly stated that there were no “vested interests” or differences of opinion among the trustees and that they are devoted  themselves in executing the duties of the Trust as guided by Sai Baba.
Former Confederation of Indian Industries National President Venu Srinivasan said that the Trust is aware of conspiracies to defame its members, while refusing to give names on who were behind such attempts. 

On questions over several issues pertaining to Baba’s health, the Trustees said there was nothing “extraordinarily wrong” with his health before he was admitted to the hospital.

Speaking about the value of the Trust properties, the trustees said the recent media reports have “hugely exaggerated” it. Stating that there was no gold transported to Bangalore or any other place from Puttaparthi, they termed the media reports: “baseless and irresponsible.”

A statement with details of the Trust’s properties at various places was issued by the Trust and the trustees said that although there were reports that the trust property are estimated at Rs 40,000-60,000 crore, the properties were never evaluated for cost. The Trust, henceforth, would be more transparent, maintaining the same values as prescribed by Baba, they said.

They also made it clear that Baba did not own any property in his name.

‘No order placed for casket’
The Trust, on Thursday, also rubbished reports that it had ordered a casket from a Bangalore-based firm about 20 days prior to Baba’s demise. The trustees said: “ We had not placed any order for any casket. The casket, as opposed to what has been doing rounds in a section of the media, arrived only after his passing away.” A section of the media had, on Wednesday and Thursday reported that the casket was ordered at Kumar and Co International in Bangalore on April 4 and Rs 1,07,000 was paid by the buyer (Raju as in the bill book) in two instalments –– Rs 57,000 and Rs 50,000 –– both on April 5. The freezer box was reportedly transported to Puttaparthi some 14 days before the godman’s demise.