The Alaya Rahm case which eventually had to be withdrawn was a fiasco due to the incompetence of his U.S. attorney. The dissident long-term U.S. devotee, Glen Meloy, had helped Alaya Rahm to find that attorney on a no-win-no-fee basis (i.e. without cost to Alaya, who had no means for it himself). The attorney stood to get all compensation that a win could bring. Unfortunately, Glen Meloy who was totally dedicated to the cause and had lots of good contacts, died before the case came to court. The lawyer evidently failed to investigate elementary facts. Most importantly, he did not even know that Sathya Sai Baba could not be sued from the USA! Sai Baba lived in India. California did not have reciprocal jurisdiction rights against an out-of-country defendant and one could not therefore use California state subpoena powers as the defendant was not subject to the powers of the Hague Treaty. The case was heard by Judge John M. Watson of the Superior Court, County of Orange, California, on April 28th, 2006.
Further, there was no legal entity in the United States against which a lawsuit demanding responsibility of Goldstein and other key directors of the Sathya Sai Society of America could be brought. Pursuant to declarations under penalty of perjury, The Sathya Sai Society of America confirmed they were a bookstore…nothing more. The Sathya Sai Organisation had not then been registered in the USA since it had set itself up in ways to avoid legal accountability and full public scrutiny. Alaya had gone to India of his own free will and so no one could be held responsible for misinforming him about Sai Baba. Because of other legalistic stumbling blocks, compelling testimony could not be presented.
For example, evidence of dereliction of duty of care by leaders of the Sathya Sai Organization or evidence from other families and individuals who alleged sexual abuse by Sathya Sai Baba could not be brought forward. Clearly, the attorney’s aim had been to collect compensation of the case turned out well, but had nothing to lose himself. He washed his hands of it as soon as he saw that it was not going to get anywhere. The attorney caused Alaya Rahm to have to withdraw the case! This, of course, did NOT disprove the truth of his allegations, which have been widely documented (such as in the BBC documentary ‘The Secret Swami‘) and which was never challenged by the Sathya Sai Organisation as they had no chance whatever of winning any case against him or the BBC.
The following mail was sent to Barry Pittard by the former close friend and helper of Sai Baba’s sisters, Eileen Weed. She was commenting on the full explanation of the case here Alaya Rahm – testimony and lawsuit concerning Sathya Sai Baba. This was after she had become disillusioned of Sathya Sai Baba and by the entire Sai cult:-
13 July 2006
Hello Barry,
I have gone through the document, and consider it quite thorough and informative. I think it explains everything very clearly. Thanks for your great work. We need to get the word out, after the shameless spreading of victory” by the devotees. Thanks again, Eileen
Leading office-bearers who have attempted to expose the truth are always closed out of the Sathya Sai Organization. Therefore, lower echelon and rank-and-file members cannot deliberate on the facts. Sai Baba has lied about dissenting former members and has called THEM “Judases”, “cawing crows”, “The lawsuit against Sai Baba (individually) was dropped because the judge indicated in the initial court appearance that he did not wish to see us pursue a case against an OUT- of-country defendant that is not a signatory to the Hague Treaty.
Sathya Sai Baba Deceptions Exposed 