Yajur Mandir was a ‘Swiss bank’

The opening of Yajur Mandir, Satya Sai Baba’s personal chambers last week and the subsequent events have given the lie to the claim of the Satya Sai Central Trust’s claim that it accepted donations only through cheques

Instead, it appears that the Yajur Mandir was a mini-Swiss bank for top political leaders, celebrities and industrialists to deposit their black money as the government had exempted the trust from reporting its income and expenditure details. An employee in Prashanti Nilayam said that a kilometre-long road connecting Yajur Mandir to the Hill View Stadium was the channel for depositing the stash.

It is learnt that some persons in Prashanti Nilayam are smuggling the trove to safe locations. It is learnt that heaps of jewellery and precious diamonds were not counted when the inventory of the treasure trove was taken at Yajur Mandir with a view to shifting them to safe destination. Last week’s seizure of Rs 35 lakh was a part of this operation, it is suspected.

Giving the lie to the trust’s claim that money was accepted by cheque, one of the 12 people who donated for the construction of the baba’s mahasamadhi, Prof Raghavendra Prasad, said over telephone that he donated had Rs 2 lakh in cash after Mr Ratnakar suggested that he hand over the amount to the contractor in Prashanti Nilayam on June 6. Stating that he was a professor at the Indian institute of Astrophysics in Bengaluru, he added that his brother and brother-in-law had also donated cash for the works. Questions are being raised over why Mr Ratnakar asked for donations in cash.