Basava Premanand is known as India's "Gurubuster" and is reputed as the oldest member of India's International Brotherhood of Magicians. He is also said to be convener of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations, convener of the Indian CSICOP and he is also the editor of a monthly journal, called the "Indian Skeptic". However, there is no information regarding his education and qualifications. All articles that pertain to him give his only qualifications as being an "amateur magician" and a "fanatic" or "irreverent" rationalist. That's it. Why everyone is silent in regards to his education is a mystery. This is important because Basava Premanand plays the role of a forensic expert in the book he wrote about SSB and the murders. The silence in regards to Basava Premanand's education might have to do with the fact that he did not get one: http://home.hetnet.nl/~ex-baba/engels/articles/fakirbuster.html. Basava Premanand was thrown out of school at the age of 12 due to a political dispute in which his parents refused to fill in a religion or caste on his school application form. Consequently, Basava Premanand was home taught. One day, Basava Premanand broke a mercury thermometer and hid it under his bed on an aluminum plate, exposing himself directly to toxic mercury fumes (which can cause psychological disturbances). Despite his father being knowledgeable in science, Basava Premanand's father ordered him to wash the plate vigorously, exposing him, once again, directly to toxic mercury. Basava Premanand supposedly experimented many times with mercury, as he claims that aluminum reacting with mercury and moisture produce aluminum oxide ash (vibuthi).

Basava Premanand is highly critical about the profit making at SSB's ashram and has pointed out profit margins in degrading terms. However, Basava Premanand has apparently succumbed to the same temptation in regards to selling his book, "Murders in Sai Baba's Bed Room", which sells for 400 rupees (approximately $9 US Dollars) in India, but sells to foreigners for $40 US Dollars! Shipping is free (about $3 US dollars). So, Basava Premanand is making a little over a 300% profit from foreigners! Tsk! Tsk! His book was published in 2001, 8 years after the murders happened (just for your information).

Basava Premanand's conspiracy theory is a true conspiracy theory; full of unsubstantiated accusations, blatant assumptions and Sai-Fi speculations that does not befit a true scientist or rationalist. As a matter of fact, even Robert Priddy, who is very critical of SSB, does not even come close to making any of the allegations made by Basava Premanand.

In classic, unscientific form, Basava Premanand submits, of all things, newspaper clippings as "evidence" to support his claims against SSB. Despite the fact that many of the newspaper articles contradict each other and fully indulged in a variety of conspiracy theories, referring to numerous, unnamed "eye witnesses" and anonymous "reliable sources" for their accounts, Basava Premanand is under the impression that these newspaper clippings are factual because they were published in a newspaper and, consequently, can be used as factual evidence against SSB! A standard never used, or applied, in any civilized court of law! Ever!

Basava Premanand had every opportunity to call the reporters who uncovered their "evidence" as material witnesses, but chose not to do so. Why? If the evidence the reporters uncovered was so incriminating, why does Basava Premanand ignore the actual incriminating evidence and use newspaper clippings instead? This highly irrational approach in gathering "evidence" comes from India's leading "rationalist"! Believe it or not.

The foundation stone to Basava Premanand's conspiracy theory entirely rests on the times the assaults actually happened. It is Basava Premanand's speculation that N. Radhakrishna and Sai Kumar Mahajan were NOT stabbed at the mandir complex, but were poisoned by Vishnu Bhatt and Anil Patley (the 2 other devotees inside the mandir) with potassium cyanide in buttermilk and were subsequently stabbed at the Super Specialty Hospital and then were immediately cremated in an electric crematorium to dispose of the evidence (despite the fact that N. Radhakrishna and Sai Kumar Mahajan were not cremated immediately or in an electric crematorium)! Basava Premanand takes part of his conspiracy theory from a discourse given by SSB in which SSB talks about N. Radhakrishna offering him buttermilk. Baba took a small sip and let N. Radhakrishna drink the rest (However, this does not account for the alleged poisoning of Sai Kumar Mahajan). Despite the fact that Basava Premanand sees SSB as a liar, corrupt, a sexual deviant and participating in illegal operations ranging from outdated weapons to narcotics, Basava Premanand believes SSB's discourse statements and uses them to form his conspiracy theory!

So, if one could adequately refute Basava Premanand's time line, one can adequately refute the foundation upon which his entire conspiracy theory is built.

Basava Premanand starts off by trying to establish a time line for the assaults. He quotes the F.I.R. (First Information Report from the Police) and Indian Newspapers to establish a factual basis for when the assaults occurred. Basava Premanand references: "Occurrences of offence Day: Sunday, Date 6-6-93, Time 10:30 PM (Vol. 1, FIR Page 336) The Hindu (Vol. 2, Page 12), The Independent (Vol. 2, Page 17), Indian Express (Vol. 2, Page 25), The Statesman (Vol. 2, Page 31), Times of India (Vol. 2, Page 36) of 8.6.1993 have stated that the 4 assailants tried to crash into the residence of Satya Sai Baba at 10:30 PM - 10:45 PM on 6-6-1993."

Consequently, Basava Premanand establishes 10:30pm – 10:45pm as the time for the assaults. What is ironic is that Basava Premanand uses the F.I.R. as evidence in establishing a time for the assaults. Basava Premanand has openly, and unequivocally, stated that the F.I.R. is not only unreliable but gives a fictitious account by corrupt police officers who tried to cover their tracks. This was confirmed by a C.I.D. investigation that found no less than 13 scathing discrepancies in the F.I.R. and had three police officers arrested. So if Basava Premanand openly decries the integrity of the F.I.R., why does he use it as evidence in establishing a time line? Then, after using the corrupt F.I.R. as evidence, Basava Premanand cites newspapers articles as more proof regarding the time when the assaults occurred. Not telling us that these very same newspaper articles were simply repeating the contents of the F.I.R.! As a matter of fact, even the Indian Express 9-6-1993 expressed frustration in obtaining the F.I.R. Clearly, the newspapers were simply repeating the contents of the F.I.R. Nevertheless, if the F.I.R. was truly written by corrupt police officers (as Basava Premanand claims) then the F.I.R and the newspaper articles that quoted from it are all unreliable.

Consequently, Basava Premanand has, himself, refuted his own time line. The time line is completely and utterly untrue and un-provable. Basava Premanand had two options: To either accept the F.I.R. as true, or not. He chose to accept the F.I.R. as untrue. So that now, he accepts it is as being true is hypocritical. He, like Robert Priddy, is taking snippets here and there and then draws erroneous conclusions. This from a rationalist and believer in science!

Let us look further into Basava Premanand's conspiracy theory. Because the inquests on both N. Radhakrishna and Sai Kumar Mahajan state that, initially, they were both alive (although unconscious) at 9:45pm – 9:50pm. at the Super Specialty Hospital (and died shortly thereafter, confirming SSB's time of 10pm for N. Radhakrishna), Basava Premanand believes that since the F.I.R. and the newspapers gave a time of 10:30pm – 10:45pm, that the stabbing occurred earlier at the Super Specialty Hospital. The implications, of course, would mean that all the doctors and numerous others that were involved, all contributed to a cover-up, making the inquests information (and times) unreliable. Putting this troubling fact aside, Basava Premanand states that because the Post Mortem reports do not specifically state the injuries were "ante-mortem", that MUST mean that the injuries were "post-mortem"! This, despite the fact that both inquests from the Super Specialty Hospital said that both deaths were due to the stabbings. Basava Premanand knows that the person who did the Post Mortem was Dr. C. P. Venkatanarayan. Why didn't he contact him or call him as a material witness for expert testimony? If Basava Premanand is correct, then why is Dr. C. P. Venkatanarayan not supporting him? Instead of getting any sort of evidence from Dr. C. P. Venkatanarayan, Basava Premanand is playing the role of a forensic expert, in which he has no known education. It is also important to point out that Dr. C. P. Venkatanarayan did the post mortem on both N. Radhakrishna and Sai Kumar Mahajan, while two other examiners did the post mortems on the four assailants. This might explain why the specific reference to the injuries being "ante-mortem" was not specifically stated. Basava Premanand never asked Dr. C. P. Venkatanarayan for clarification, that was only one question away. Why?

To futher his time-line conspiracy theory, Basava Premanand raises the issue of the telegram. The police said the four assailants, under the pretext of delivering a telegram, confronted the devotees in the mandir at 9:30pm. Basava Premanand states that the ashram withheld the telegram as evidence. Then, later, Basava Premanand states that Mathrubhumi, another Indian Newspaper (Vol. 1, Page 70), investigated and found that the telegram was sent from Chandraswami and was handed over to Suresh Santharam Prabhu (one of the four assailants) at 10:05pm on June 6th, 1993 and his signature was received. Despite no telegram ever being submitted into evidence, Basava Premanand is more than willing to accept a newpaper article in place of the actual evidence! No one has seen the telegram. However, Mathrubhumi claims they investigated and found the evidence. Once again, why didn't Basava Premanand use the person, who uncovered this evidence, as a material witness? Once again, Basava Premanand discards the material witness in place of a newspaper clipping!

The rest of Basava Premanand's conspiracy theory is based on this time line that has been shown to be un-provable, untenable and unreliable. Also, Basava Premanand's conspiracy is riddled with contradictions. One example (out of many) is when Basava Premanand cites the four post mortem documents as genuine and legitimate evidence, yet contraindicates their findings by claiming that the police brutally beat and tied up the four assailants prior to shooting them. However, the four post mortems documents do not mention any injuries separate from firearm injuries. None. This would adequately refute Basava Premanand's statements that the four assailants were brutally beaten by the police officers.

I fully agree with the CID investigation that the police tampered with and destroyed evidence and lied about it. Despite Basava Premanand agreeing to the findings of the CID, Basava Premanand also says the CID is corrupt as well! Such being the case, the truth will never be truly known to Basava Premanand who sees corruption in anything related to SSB. Sadly, in such a scenario, conspiracy theories multiply quickly and spread like wildfire. Basava Premanand, a critical skeptic of SSB since 1968, could not resist the temptation of indulging and furthering his own specious conspiracy theory in a book. A conspiracy theory not even supported by other critics and skeptics of SSB. A conspiracy theory that accuses "the A.P. state government, the central government, central excise and customs department, the law enforcement department, state CB- CID, C.B.I, CVC and all Courts" of covering up and conspiring for SSB (who happens to be a fake, fraud and a lousy magician with no paranormal powers). So there you have it: Basava Premanand's trial of SSB by newspaper clippings and assumptions.

Better not inform Basava Premanad that he got his story wrong because Hari Sampath, at http://home.hetnet.nl/~ex-baba/engels/articles/murders.html, on ExBaba.com, revealed the "real" story about what "really" happened on June 6th, 1993! Hari Sampath claims that no post mortem examinations were done (contrary to the fact that they were) because if the post mortems were actually done (hello, they were done), they would have, "easily revealed the cause of death was NOT BULLET INJURIES" (wrong again Hari Sampath, the post mortems ruled the cause of death from bullet injuries)! Hari Sampath knows exactly what SSB said and did because unnamed villagers, who knew "everything that happened", told him so! Furthermore, the crowds fell upon the four assailants and clubbed them to death with sticks and knives! Something not supported by either the photographic evidence or the post mortem examinations! The police "pumped bullets" into the corpses of the four assailants (that were killed by the crowds) and "hushed" everything up! Does any of this sound the least bit reliable or honest? Just a bunch of sciolistic accounts told by a bunch of frenzied and vindicitive Anti-SSB activists who care very little for accuracy and honesty.

Click Here to read an anonymous letter that Basava Premanand published on his site and on Exbaba.com, allegedly from a student who was sexually abused (but who never made that claim). This anonymous letter has striking similarities to Basava Premanand's own writing style and there are many oddities about why the letter was written in the first place.

Click Here to view screen captures to SaiPetition.net, Robert Priddy's Ex-Office Bearers Page and the BBC text to the Secret Swami Documentary. Basava Premanand personally made a submission to SaiPetition.net (which was subsequently replicated on Robert Priddy's Ex-Office Bearers Page) stating that he was a follower of Sri Sathya Sai Baba from 1968 to 1974 and was the "best worker in the SSB Org., Podanur". However, in the Secret Swami Documentary, Basava Premanand claimed that he was never a follower and had been trying to investigate SSB since 1968 itself. To further this argument, Click Here to read an article that was published in the The Independent, on December 24th 2000, where it was claimed that Premanand had "spent nearly 50 years touring Indian villages, drawing crowds of people by demonstrating how "miracles" are performed". When this article was written, Premanand was 71 (he was born in 1930). Consequently, Premanand had been exposing gurus since the age of 21 or 22. This means that in 1968 (at the age of 38, or 16 years after he was a rationalist) Premanand was not a follower of SSB. Why did Premanand lie?