Hyderabad: Devotees of Sri Satya Saibaba, anxious over his health status and the mystery surrounding it, have trained their guns on the powerful Satya Sai Central Trust and Saibaba's personal aides.
K Bhaskar Reddy, an advocate from Penukonda and a devotee of Saibaba, filed a writ petition in the additional judicial first class magistrate court in Penukonda in Anantapur on Friday demanding criminal action against Saibaba's aide Satyajit for keeping millions of devotees in the dark about the godman's health.
He contended that the devotees had a right to know the health condition of Saibaba. "Both the Sai trust and the super specialty hospital authorities are maintaining secrecy. Facts should come out on Saibaba's health," he said. Reddy said the devotees were not convinced by the medical bulletins issued by the hospital. The court would hear the petition on Saturday.
Speaking to newsmen in Chittoor, former TTD chairman D K Adikesavulu Naidu criticised Satyajit and cardiologist Ayyar for the deteriorating health of Saibaba. He said the trust and the government were in the know of things and Saibaba's brother's son R J Ratnakar should come out and clear the air on the health and trust affairs.
DK alleged that Baba was cheated by his aides and Ayyar, who is looking after him in the ICU in the Satya Sai super specialty hospital. "Ayyar is a friend of Satyajit who is solely responsible for the health of Saibaba. Ayyar is not a doctor. Saibaba will survive only if proper medical care along with food is provided to him," he said.
DK alleged that Satyajit did not allow anybody near Saibaba for the last six months and the state government has also kept quiet knowing all these things. "What is he doing in ICU when no one is allowed inside," he sought to know. DK said the government should have taken action long ago to set right the condition of Saibaba and trust matters. "Satyajit should be interrogated immediately," he said.
While speculations over administering steroids to Saibaba became a hot topic in Puttaparthi area, a family member, not wanting to be named, lamented about the general health condition of Saibaba, suspecting that the close aides might have injected steroids in different forms to give temporary stimulation during special occasions.
"I came to know that Saibaba had refused to take soup suspecting that it was mixed with steroids a few months ago. But the aides convinced him," he said and added that Saibaba takes `ragi sankati' and green leaf curry prepared from his brother's house only.
In another development, Dalita Jana Sabha has approached the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) demanding that video clippings of Saibaba undergoing treatment in the hospital be produced immediately for the benefit of lakhs of devotees. It's president Gadda Srinivas alleged that trust members and hospital authorities have colluded to fool the devotees.
