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This is an archive article published on September 4, 2012
Sai Baba aide releases papers as will
Trustee of Sathya Sai Trust R J Ratnakar said on Monday the document has been validated and that the board members have accepted it.
The personal attendant of the Sathya Sai Baba,S Satyajit,has released a deed document dated March 23,1967,purportedly dictated by the Satya Sai Baba stating that all property and wealth he receives as donations belong to the Sathya Sai Trust and that nobody,including his family,can claim it. Trustee of Sathya Sai Trust R J Ratnakar said on Monday the document has been validated and that the board members have accepted it.
The releasing of the document,seen as Sai Babas will,by Satyajit 16 months after he passed away last April raised many eyebrows,but one of the trustees Indulal Shah is vouching for it. Shah had signed as a witness on the document and confirmed its validity to the Trusts board members on Saturday. However,he refused to comment why he did not reveal the presence of such a document after Sai Babas death when the Trust was embroiled in a controversy over the assets estimated to be over Rs 30,000 crore. T Shukla,an advocate of the Bombay High Court,who is no more,signed as the second witness.
Sai Baba declared in the document that he was 44-year-old at the time of dictating the will and that at the age of 12 he gave up studies and dedicated himself to spread dharma. He said that he left his parents and took up religious order and renounced all family attachments,relinquished all family property.
I do not own or possess any personal property or wealth. Whatever is given to me is under my management and control to be used only for public charitable purposes. This declaration,I am making so that nobody can claim,under or through me,any properties, the declaration says.
After Sai Baba founded the Sathya Sai Central Trust in 1972,all the wealth and assets went to the Trust.
Attached to the 14-page document is an attestation by Shah and Shukla. Satyajit says Sai Baba gave the document to him for safe keeping in 1998 with instructions to make it public only if required. Now,it is clear to everyone that all the property belongs to the Trust only and there can be no claimants, Ratnakar said on Monday.
An official said Sai Baba probably made the will in 1967 because of his increasing number of foreign devotees who were making large donations in the form cash and expensive gifts.
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