“DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES”
No one can convince me that Sathya Sai Baba – with the governmental assistance of the then Home Minister, S.B. Chavan, was not complicit in the execution and cover-up of four ex-student devotees in his apartment. Nor that he fully shared the moral and legal guilt for the incident. This is partly because my close friend, the famous Indian journalist V.K. Narasimhan (now deceased) who attended Sai Baba on a daily basis, told me secretly in 1996 many utterly damaging details. These, which obviously made a huge and indelible impression on me, I carefully noted down at the time in my daily diary at Prashanthi Nilayam, which records in some detail what he told me then and which guarantees that my memory is not at fault on what I have stated since then. Narasimhan (VKN) became my closest friend and confidante in the Sai movement, a person who was VERY close to Sai Baba for reasons he on occasion publicly stated he did not fully understand. (Note, however, that the respect in which he was held in public, along with his fame and contacts throughout the Indian elite were extremely useful to Sathya Sai Baba in building up his political power in India. I learned how Narasimhan was pleasantly naive in some ways, but he was also easily flattered by others). Not until some time after his death was I able to publicise the facts without danger to him. He told me how the police were forced into doing the executions by blackmail, in which Sai Baba’s younger brother (Janaki ramiah) played a leading role along with other ashram officials. Later on, before a shocked V.K. Narasimhan, Home Minister Chavan congratulated Janaki ramiah on his blackmailing role, to which the latter replied “Dead men tell no tales” and both laughed! Later, S.B. Chavan manipulated the CBI and quashed the entire investigation into the murders, which remain unsolved in law. (See here)
I cannot doubt my friend VKN’s confidences to me, and I am willing to testify to the truth of them. When discussing at Sai Towers with me in the presence of its owner, R. Padmanabhan, and Chris Parnell (a prominent Sai Organisation leader in Australia), VKN told how he had asked Sai Baba on several occasions about the murders and he said in a loud voice “But his answers were not convincing, not convincing, not convincing!” Sai Baba’s Guru Purnima discourse about the episode was wholly unconvincing and devious too. From this discourse one can take the measure of Sai Baba, a devious, blustering, wrathful demoniser, inordinate boaster and actual liar. As to S.B. Chavan, the Indian press recorded his antics in a large number of articles, of which a few during four days not long after the executions are of interest. Take your pick!
10-6-1993 Chavan flies to Sai Baba’s ashram (Times of India, Bangalore)
10-6-1993 Chavan meets Sai Baba (Times of India, Bombay
11-6-1993 CBI probe not needed: Chavan (Times of India, Bangalore)
11-6-1993 Moily meets Chavan & CBI probe if needed, says Chavan (Indian Express, Bangalore)
11-6-1993 CBI willing to probe murder bid (Times of India, Bombay)
11-6-1993 Security for Sai Baba to be stepped up (The Telegraph, Calcutta)
11-6-1993 Tight security at Prashanthi Nilayam (The Hindu, Coimbatore)
11-6-1993 Enigma wrapped in mystery (Indian Express, Coimbatore)
11-6-1993 Chavan reviews security steps for Baba, rules out CBI probe (Deccan Herald)
11-6-1993 Chavan willing for CBI probe (Indian Express, Kozhikode)
11-6-1993 Chavan at Puttaparthi, offers CBI probe (Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad)
11-6-1993 ‘CBI can probe Sai Baba case’ Indian Express, Coimbatore
12-6-1993 Why Not CBI? Andhra Police Chief tries to avoid the CBI investigating. (Deccan Herald)
13-6-1993 PUCL wants to quiz Sai Baba (The Hindustan Times, New Delhi)
13-6-1993 Why isn’t Sai Baba cooperating? (The Pioneer, New Delhi)
13-6-1993 Ashram probe winds into dark alley (Indian Express, New Delhi)
Sathya Sai Baba Deceptions Exposed 
