Sai Trust completes inventories

Bounty in Brindavanam

Brindavanam was Baba’s ashram at Kadugodi near Whitefield here. The trust on Wednesday made an inventory of the personal quarters of Sai Baba at Brindavanam. Over 117 articles, 6.09 kg of gold, 245.368 kg of silver and Rs 80,50,500 in cash were found.

The inventory, which began at 10.45 am, was conducted in the presence of five trustees—V Srinivasan, R J Ratnakar, S V Giri, T K K Bhagwat and S S Naganand. Bangalore Urban Deputy Commissioner M K Aiyappa and Deputy Commissioner of Police (South-East) P S Harsha were independent witnesses. Aiyappa and Harsha were part of the inventory at the invitation of the trust.

Independent evaluators were also present during the inventory. “We had written to the State Government seeking the presence of two of its representatives during the inventory. And the government obliged,” trust press co-ordinator Anantharaman said.

Trustee R J Ratnakar told Deccan Herald: “After Baba passed away, we wanted to record all the valuables that were not already accounted for. As long as Baba was alive, there was no need for such a thing. After his demise, the trust thought it fit to do the inventory.”

Anantharaman told reporters that this would be the last inventory. The trust has been conducting inventories at all the personal quarters that Baba used in during his long term at the helm of the trust. On his quarters in the Kodaikanal ashram, Anantharaman said: “Baba never lived there like he did in Puttaparti or Bangalore. His stays there were short. Our knowledge is that there weren’t too many devotees giving gifts to Baba there.” At Brindavanam, the officials and the trustees checked for valuables in eight rooms on two floors. Aiyappa said: “We looked for articles in five rooms on the ground floor and three rooms on the first floor but found all the valuables in only one room––which was Baba’s personal quarters.”

The team found gold in the form of chains, “thali bottus” and coins while the silver was predominantly poojaware, dinnerware and idols. At 3:45 pm, a representative of the tru­st deposited the gold and cash in Canara Bank.