1993 murders in Prashanthi Nilayam: Difference between revisions
Dilip rajeev (talk | contribs) mNo edit summary |
|||
| (4 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{ |
{{refimprove|date=May 2009}} |
||
{{POV-check|date=May 2009}} |
|||
{{Refimprove|date=May 2009}} |
|||
{{Cleanup-afd|date=May 2009}} |
|||
On 6 June 1993, six deaths happened in the controversial Indian guru [[Sathya Sai Baba]]'s ashram — Prashanthi Nilayam. Four devotees, aged between 25 and 40 years and all resident in the ashram, went to Sai Baba's residence armed with knives.<ref name=bbcd>BBC Documentary. Secret Swami</ref><ref name=Ruhela>Ruhela, Satya Pal (1997), Sri Sathya Sai Baba and the Press, 1972-1996, M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd., ISBN 9788175330412, pp. 106–107</ref> As they approached they were stopped by four of Sai Baba's attendants.<ref name=Ruhela/> In the struggle that followed, two of his attendants were killed and the other two injured.<ref name=Ruhela/> Hearing the commotion Sai Baba escaped through a back stairway and raised the alarm.<ref name=bbcd/><ref name=Ruhela/> The assailants purportedly ran and locked themselves up in sai baba's bedroom. What followed is highly disputed. The police version claimed that when the room was opened the boys charged at the police with daggers so they were all shot dead. <ref name=Ruhela/> The police stated that they were charged at by the men, who were subsequently shot by the police.<ref name=Ruhela/> Others, including V.P.B. Nair(Former Secretary to the Home Minister of [[Andhra Pradesh]]), [[Sanal Edamaruku]], and [[Basava Premanand]], state the cornered assailants were deliberately shot at and that political influence of Sai Baba kept the investigations from proceeding.<ref name=bbcd/> |
On 6 June 1993, six deaths happened in the controversial Indian guru [[Sathya Sai Baba]]'s ashram — Prashanthi Nilayam. Four devotees, aged between 25 and 40 years and all resident in the ashram, went to Sai Baba's residence armed with knives.<ref name=bbcd>BBC Documentary. Secret Swami</ref><ref name=Ruhela>Ruhela, Satya Pal (1997), Sri Sathya Sai Baba and the Press, 1972-1996, M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd., ISBN 9788175330412, pp. 106–107</ref> As they approached they were stopped by four of Sai Baba's attendants.<ref name=Ruhela/> In the struggle that followed, two of his attendants were killed and the other two injured.<ref name=Ruhela/> Hearing the commotion Sai Baba escaped through a back stairway and raised the alarm.<ref name=bbcd/><ref name=Ruhela/> The assailants purportedly ran and locked themselves up in sai baba's bedroom. What followed is highly disputed. The police version claimed that when the room was opened the boys charged at the police with daggers so they were all shot dead. <ref name=Ruhela/> The police stated that they were charged at by the men, who were subsequently shot by the police.<ref name=Ruhela/> Others, including V.P.B. Nair(Former Secretary to the Home Minister of [[Andhra Pradesh]]), [[Sanal Edamaruku]], and [[Basava Premanand]], state the cornered assailants were deliberately shot at and that political influence of Sai Baba kept the investigations from proceeding.<ref name=bbcd/> |
||
==Reports and analysis== |
==Reports and analysis== |
||
[[File:SaiBabaBedroomMurderVictims.jpg|thumb|Images of the four purported assailants. All four were long-term devotees serving Baba at his ashram.]] |
|||
| ⚫ | The police version claimed that when the purported assailants, who had locked themselves in a room, charged at the police with daggers they were all shot dead |
||
| ⚫ | The police version claimed that when the purported assailants, who had locked themselves in a room, charged at the police with daggers so they were all shot dead. A Central Investigation Department report stated that the official police report is riddled with lies and inconsistencies.<ref name=bbcd/> V.P.B. Nair, Former Secretary to the Home Minister of [[Andhra Pradesh]], who comes from a police background, states that the police report was riddled with lies and that the killing of the four boys were ''"absolute cold-blooded murder"'' . He opines that two or three daggers could have been no match for armed police and the story of all four boys being shot-dead in self-defense seems far-fetched. .<ref name=bbcd/> |
||
| ⚫ | [[British Broadcasting Corporation]]'s investigative journalist Tanya Dutta states, in the BBC documentary "The Secret Swami": "Some police officers were arrested but never charged. The case was eventually dropped. Sai Baba has always had a close relationship with the police. Even today, senior officers are special guests at the Ashram. With friends in such high places Sai Baba seems to be untouchable. Any attempt to investigate the goings-on at his Ashram — even, murder — appear doomed to failure. Critics |
||
Another witness to the murders was a 14 year old boy 'Subbapayya' who happened to be in Baba's room when the assailants entered. The Indian Express (13-6-1993) states that according to police reports, the boy, in his early teens, was in Sai Baba's room when the assailants knocked saying there was a telegram for Sai Baba and he opened the door. They attempted to attack him, but the dagger only penetrated his shirt and he escaped unharmed. He bolted the door and alerted Baba to the impending danger. However, writes the Express, "what sounds illogical is that if Subbappayya had closed the door and bolted it from behind, how could the alleged assailants enter Baba's personal chambers after attacking the four guards on the ground floor? There are no indications of the alleged assailants or somebody applying pressure on the doors to open them. The police have taken Subbapayya's torn shirt into their possession... The investigating officers are tight-lipped to the question as to how the assailants could get into Baba's chamber."<ref name=murderanalysis>Excerpt from the Indian Express. 13-6-1993.</ref> The [[Criminal Investigation Department|CID]] interrogated Subbappayya twice, despite the ashram authorities demanding they present a valid authority to do so. <ref name=murderanalysis/> |
|||
| ⚫ | Other analysts also opine that Sai Baba was directly involved in the murders. |
||
Analysts such as [[Basava Premanand]] also state that the there too many inconsistencies in the official story. All four boys had been shot at several times — which would be absolutely unnecessary if the purpose were to just disarm them. He notes that abrasions and marks apparently inflicted by beating were found on the boy's bodies which are also inconsistent with the initial police reports. One of the boys, Jagganatham had been shot through the palm and two places in the chest at close range. Another of the purported assailants, Suresh Kumar, had been shot in the left eye( to the brain ), right thigh and left wrist. <ref name=bpa>[http://home.no.net/anir/Sai/enigma/Murders.htm Analysis by Bhasava Premanand of the 1993 Murders]</ref> |
|||
All four purported assailants were ex-students of Sai School and close devotees of Sai Baba. R.R. Gogineni, |
|||
| ⚫ | The incident was widely published in the Indian press. Sai Baba, on [[July 3]],[[1993]], dismissed the reason as "jealousy" among his followers, without giving any more details or explanations of the events.<ref>Guru Purnima Discourse, [[July 3]], [[1993]], Keep Truth as Your Aim: [http://www.eaisai.com/baba/docs/d930703.html Available online]</ref> The former Secretary of the Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh, V.P.B. Nair, is now trying to re-investigate the case.<ref name=bbcd/> Analysts such as Premanand have expressed their outrage at the fact that sai baba was never questioned or interviewed.<ref name=bbcd/> |
||
The Former General Secretary of Rationalist Association of India, states that all the people killed were part of the inner circle of Sai Baba, and among them was Radha Krishna Menon,the personal assistant who had apparently been caught on video "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BabaNecklacefake.ogv passing the necklace clandestinely to Baba.]"<ref>[http://www.uni-giessen.de/~gk1415/sai-baba.htm SATYA SAI BABA. Retelling The Story, Babu R.R. Gogineni Former General Secretary of Rationalist Association of India]</ref> |
|||
| ⚫ | [[British Broadcasting Corporation]]'s investigative journalist Tanya Dutta states, in the BBC documentary "The Secret Swami": "Some police officers were arrested but never charged. The case was eventually dropped. Sai Baba has always had a close relationship with the police. Even today, senior officers are special guests at the Ashram. With friends in such high places Sai Baba seems to be untouchable. Any attempt to investigate the goings-on at his Ashram — even, murder — appear doomed to failure. Critics say police connections ensured that Sai Baba wasn’t even interviewed, despite being one of the witnesses to the events of that night. Indian journalists were censored and their stories suppressed."<ref name=bbcd/> |
||
| ⚫ | Several sources, including a [[Central Bureau of Investigation]] and V.P.B. Nair (Former Secretary to the Home Minister of [[Andhra Pradesh]]) |
||
| ⚫ | Other analysts also opine that Sai Baba was directly involved in the murders. [[Sanal Edamaruku]] states the initial purpose of the boys trying get to Sai Baba was apparently to threaten him to stop abusing children or to murder him for doing so. Based on his research, he states: "A policeman who was working at the police station in Puttaparthi at that time told me that the boys had come there and said to Sai Baba:[''words to the effect''] 'Now there will be a bit of a stop to these sexual assaults on small boys.' Sai Baba then locked them in — he was angry – locked them in, went and pressed the alarm button for the police. The police came and they received the go-ahead from Sai Baba to take over the matter ..[Others] could hear the boys up in Sai Baba’s bedroom and living room for four hours. And later the police thought it so dangerous to let them out to the people who were waiting outside that they quite simply executed them after four hours of interrogation."<ref>Interview of Sana Edamaruku for Danish TV Documentary: "Seduced by Sai Baba"</ref> |
||
| ⚫ | The incident was widely published in the Indian press. Sai Baba, on [[July 3]],[[1993]], dismissed the reason as "jealousy" among his followers, without giving any more details or explanations of the events.<ref>Guru Purnima Discourse, [[July 3]], [[1993]], Keep Truth as Your Aim: [http://www.eaisai.com/baba/docs/d930703.html Available online]</ref> The former Secretary of the Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh, V.P.B. Nair, is now trying to re-investigate the case.<ref name=bbcd/>One of India's leading newspapers, [[The Hindu]], reported that commenting upon the murders at the time, the International Chairman of Sai Baba’s Organization and a member of the Sathya Sai Central Trust, Indulal Shah, stated to pressmen: “...the matter is purely internal and we do not wish to have any law enforcement agency investigating into it.” <ref>[http://www.saipetition.net/ Quoted] from a report in India's leading Daily The Hindu, 10-6-1993</ref> Analysts such as Premanand have expressed their outrage at the fact that sai baba was never questioned or interviewed.<ref name=bbcd/> |
||
| ⚫ | Several sources, including a [[Central Bureau of Investigation]] and V.P.B. Nair (Former Secretary to the Home Minister of [[Andhra Pradesh]]) stated that the official police report contained inconsistencies.<ref name=bbcd/> R.R. Gogineni, the Former General Secretary of the Rationalist Association of India, stated that all the people killed were part of the inner circle of Sai Baba.<ref>[http://www.uni-giessen.de/~gk1415/sai-baba.htm SATYA SAI BABA. Retelling The Story, Babu R.R. Gogineni Former General Secretary of Rationalist Association of India]</ref> |
||
A previous case of alleged murder related to the ashram was reported on 20 February, 1987, when the body of a student at a college run by the Sathya Sai Trust was found in a semi-charred state. While the case was dismissed as suicide by the police, Narendra Nayak, writing in the Indian Skeptics Journal, opined that the "powerful force around the Baba got the [police] inquiry turned into a farce." He notes that circumstantial evidence did not support suicide being a plausible cause of death.<ref>[http://www.indian-skeptic.org/html/is_v01/1-1-5.htm Investigate the Murder at Satya Sai Baba's Collage], The Indian Skeptic.May 1998.] [http://www.indian-skeptic.org/html/is_v01/cover-1.jpg Image of body as carried on Indian Skeptic( warning: graphic images ). ] </ref> |
|||
==References== |
==References== |
||
Revision as of 09:44, 12 June 2009
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2009) |
On 6 June 1993, six deaths happened in the controversial Indian guru Sathya Sai Baba's ashram — Prashanthi Nilayam. Four devotees, aged between 25 and 40 years and all resident in the ashram, went to Sai Baba's residence armed with knives.[1][2] As they approached they were stopped by four of Sai Baba's attendants.[2] In the struggle that followed, two of his attendants were killed and the other two injured.[2] Hearing the commotion Sai Baba escaped through a back stairway and raised the alarm.[1][2] The assailants purportedly ran and locked themselves up in sai baba's bedroom. What followed is highly disputed. The police version claimed that when the room was opened the boys charged at the police with daggers so they were all shot dead. [2] The police stated that they were charged at by the men, who were subsequently shot by the police.[2] Others, including V.P.B. Nair(Former Secretary to the Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh), Sanal Edamaruku, and Basava Premanand, state the cornered assailants were deliberately shot at and that political influence of Sai Baba kept the investigations from proceeding.[1]
Reports and analysis
The police version claimed that when the purported assailants, who had locked themselves in a room, charged at the police with daggers so they were all shot dead. A Central Investigation Department report stated that the official police report is riddled with lies and inconsistencies.[1] V.P.B. Nair, Former Secretary to the Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh, who comes from a police background, states that the police report was riddled with lies and that the killing of the four boys were "absolute cold-blooded murder" . He opines that two or three daggers could have been no match for armed police and the story of all four boys being shot-dead in self-defense seems far-fetched. .[1]
Another witness to the murders was a 14 year old boy 'Subbapayya' who happened to be in Baba's room when the assailants entered. The Indian Express (13-6-1993) states that according to police reports, the boy, in his early teens, was in Sai Baba's room when the assailants knocked saying there was a telegram for Sai Baba and he opened the door. They attempted to attack him, but the dagger only penetrated his shirt and he escaped unharmed. He bolted the door and alerted Baba to the impending danger. However, writes the Express, "what sounds illogical is that if Subbappayya had closed the door and bolted it from behind, how could the alleged assailants enter Baba's personal chambers after attacking the four guards on the ground floor? There are no indications of the alleged assailants or somebody applying pressure on the doors to open them. The police have taken Subbapayya's torn shirt into their possession... The investigating officers are tight-lipped to the question as to how the assailants could get into Baba's chamber."[3] The CID interrogated Subbappayya twice, despite the ashram authorities demanding they present a valid authority to do so. [3] Analysts such as Basava Premanand also state that the there too many inconsistencies in the official story. All four boys had been shot at several times — which would be absolutely unnecessary if the purpose were to just disarm them. He notes that abrasions and marks apparently inflicted by beating were found on the boy's bodies which are also inconsistent with the initial police reports. One of the boys, Jagganatham had been shot through the palm and two places in the chest at close range. Another of the purported assailants, Suresh Kumar, had been shot in the left eye( to the brain ), right thigh and left wrist. [4]
All four purported assailants were ex-students of Sai School and close devotees of Sai Baba. R.R. Gogineni, The Former General Secretary of Rationalist Association of India, states that all the people killed were part of the inner circle of Sai Baba, and among them was Radha Krishna Menon,the personal assistant who had apparently been caught on video "passing the necklace clandestinely to Baba."[5]
British Broadcasting Corporation's investigative journalist Tanya Dutta states, in the BBC documentary "The Secret Swami": "Some police officers were arrested but never charged. The case was eventually dropped. Sai Baba has always had a close relationship with the police. Even today, senior officers are special guests at the Ashram. With friends in such high places Sai Baba seems to be untouchable. Any attempt to investigate the goings-on at his Ashram — even, murder — appear doomed to failure. Critics say police connections ensured that Sai Baba wasn’t even interviewed, despite being one of the witnesses to the events of that night. Indian journalists were censored and their stories suppressed."[1]
Other analysts also opine that Sai Baba was directly involved in the murders. Sanal Edamaruku states the initial purpose of the boys trying get to Sai Baba was apparently to threaten him to stop abusing children or to murder him for doing so. Based on his research, he states: "A policeman who was working at the police station in Puttaparthi at that time told me that the boys had come there and said to Sai Baba:[words to the effect] 'Now there will be a bit of a stop to these sexual assaults on small boys.' Sai Baba then locked them in — he was angry – locked them in, went and pressed the alarm button for the police. The police came and they received the go-ahead from Sai Baba to take over the matter ..[Others] could hear the boys up in Sai Baba’s bedroom and living room for four hours. And later the police thought it so dangerous to let them out to the people who were waiting outside that they quite simply executed them after four hours of interrogation."[6]
The incident was widely published in the Indian press. Sai Baba, on July 3,1993, dismissed the reason as "jealousy" among his followers, without giving any more details or explanations of the events.[7] The former Secretary of the Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh, V.P.B. Nair, is now trying to re-investigate the case.[1]One of India's leading newspapers, The Hindu, reported that commenting upon the murders at the time, the International Chairman of Sai Baba’s Organization and a member of the Sathya Sai Central Trust, Indulal Shah, stated to pressmen: “...the matter is purely internal and we do not wish to have any law enforcement agency investigating into it.” [8] Analysts such as Premanand have expressed their outrage at the fact that sai baba was never questioned or interviewed.[1]
Several sources, including a Central Bureau of Investigation and V.P.B. Nair (Former Secretary to the Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh) stated that the official police report contained inconsistencies.[1] R.R. Gogineni, the Former General Secretary of the Rationalist Association of India, stated that all the people killed were part of the inner circle of Sai Baba.[9]
A previous case of alleged murder related to the ashram was reported on 20 February, 1987, when the body of a student at a college run by the Sathya Sai Trust was found in a semi-charred state. While the case was dismissed as suicide by the police, Narendra Nayak, writing in the Indian Skeptics Journal, opined that the "powerful force around the Baba got the [police] inquiry turned into a farce." He notes that circumstantial evidence did not support suicide being a plausible cause of death.[10]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i BBC Documentary. Secret Swami
- ^ a b c d e f Ruhela, Satya Pal (1997), Sri Sathya Sai Baba and the Press, 1972-1996, M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd., ISBN 9788175330412, pp. 106–107
- ^ a b Excerpt from the Indian Express. 13-6-1993.
- ^ Analysis by Bhasava Premanand of the 1993 Murders
- ^ SATYA SAI BABA. Retelling The Story, Babu R.R. Gogineni Former General Secretary of Rationalist Association of India
- ^ Interview of Sana Edamaruku for Danish TV Documentary: "Seduced by Sai Baba"
- ^ Guru Purnima Discourse, July 3, 1993, Keep Truth as Your Aim: Available online
- ^ Quoted from a report in India's leading Daily The Hindu, 10-6-1993
- ^ SATYA SAI BABA. Retelling The Story, Babu R.R. Gogineni Former General Secretary of Rationalist Association of India
- ^ Investigate the Murder at Satya Sai Baba's Collage, The Indian Skeptic.May 1998.] Image of body as carried on Indian Skeptic( warning: graphic images ).
