Sathya Sai trustees seek time from police

HYDERABAD: Sathya Sai Central Trust members have sought more time to appear before the police in connection with the recovery of over 35 lakh in a vehicle near the Karnataka border. Last week, the police had seized the money from a vehicle. The three men arrested in this case confessed to police that the money was given by Sathya Sai Trust members V Srinivasan and RJ Ratnakar to hand over to an unknown person in Bangalore.

Ratnakar, nephew of late spiritual guru Sri Sathya Sai Baba, said he was seeking legal opinion and will provide all information to police. He is willing to appear before the police on Saturday while Srinivasan said he would appear before the police on Monday.

According to a police official, they will take a decision on questioning the trustees on Friday. "We wanted to question them on the same day,'' he said.

The state government sought a report from the trust on its financial and social activities. It has also asked for an outline on the future plans of the trust.

"We are not in a hurry to get details from the trust. We have not given any deadline to submit the report. Reasonable time will be given to them and any further action will be taken only after getting the report. But we will not be silent and mute spectator,'' said Ponnala Lakshmaiah, IT& Endowment Minister.

This is for the first time the state is intervening in the trust activities. The Congress-led government was under pressure from within the party to take over the trust. Some Congressmen were also asking for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the matter.

Though registered under the state Endowment Act, the Satthya Sai Trust was exempted from submitting financial accounts to the state government.