Anantapur, July 8, 2013: The turf war between the relatives of Sri Satya Sai Baba reached its peak with an attack on the residence of M Ganapathy Raju, the first cousin of Satya Sai Baba, by alleged followers of Ratnakar, member of Sri Satya Sai Central Trust and also nephew of Sai Baba, in Puttaparti on Sunday.

The agitators also burnt Ganapathy Raju’s effigy by alleging that he is hurting the sentiments of Satya Sai devotees. Though it was learnt that Raju went to the police station for lodging a complaint over the incident, he did not return home till late in the evening. Meanwhile, rumours were making rounds in Puttaparti about the abduction of Ganapathy Raju by followers of Ratnakar. There are also reports that the police took him into their custody and shifted him to Bangalore citing security concerns. Following the demise of Sai Baba, allegations poured up against the trust members especially against Ratnakar, that he is damaging the image of Sai Baba.

However, Ratnakar described all the allegations as ‘baseless’ from time to time.

Meanwhile, the trust members received a mail from rajuug 1958@yahoo.in, in which the mailer demanded a ransom of Rs 25 lakh from the trust members.

After learning about the mail, Ganapathy Raju, whose mail ID (rajug1958@yahoo.co.in) is almost similar to the above mail ID suspected it as the handiwork of Ratnakar and sought the trust members to unravel the persons involved.

Later, he also lodged a complaint with the district SP some time ago and it was learnt that a CID official directed the district police to probe the issue recently. As per directions, the district police enquired him about it.

Source: The New Indian Express, DT. July 8, 2013.