AP govt seeks details of Sai trust

The notice served to the Trust by Principle Secretary (Endowments) Ramanachary, gave only 10 days time for the  Trust to submit financial statements, details of the auditors, balance sheets and bank transactions.

Meanwhile, investigations progressed further on Monday with the questioning of aTrust member. Srinivasan, who went underground last week surfaced this morning at Puttaparthi to attend an impromptu meeting and also appeared before the police.

The police interrogation in connection to the seizure of unaccounted cash of Rs.35 lakhs allegedly smuggled out of Yajur Mandir, continued for seven hours. “I will brief the press on Tuesday,” a tired Srinivasan assured the waiting contingent of the media.

Harsha Nanda Shetty, Suhan Shetty and Sekhar – who were caught with the cash on June 18, arrested and bailed out recently, were also being questioned by the Income Tax Department.

The Trust meeting at Prashanti Nilayam was chaired by former chief justice P S Bhagawati. Sources in the Ashram said there was a lot of fire being exchanged between the Trust members on the issue. The meeting also resolved to send a detailed reply about the Trusts activities, assets and liabilities to the government.

At the meeting, Srinivasan, explained to the trust the reasons for transporting money. He also submitted the documents about donors and the purpose of payments. Srinivasan said the amount was collected from devotees and paid to the civil contractors at Bangalore to speed up the works for Saibaba’s birth anniversary celebrations.

Trust member Ratnakar who was questioned by the police said: “It is our collective responsibility to ensure that Saibaba’s welfare and philanthropic activities should be continued without a break and also ensure that we function and fulfill wishes of Sathya Saibaba who was revered as Bhagawan by all of his devotees.”