May 2005 ::: News ::: 1993 Police Shooting:
A Much Needed Clarification And Robert Priddy's Failure To Clarify
My Response: Notice that Robert Priddy claimed that he was a Sai devotee from 1983 - 2000. On the SaiPetition.net website, Robert Priddy claimed he was a Sai devotee until 2002. Isn't it strange that Priddy cannot even tell us which year he defected from Sathya Sai Baba?
Source: http://home.no.net/anir/Sai/MurderReview.htm
The Sathya Sai Baba June 6, 1993 murders issue was never cleared up, but willfully suppressed. This is the main point. To evaluate fairly the key question, one must look at the preponderance of evidence... that is, the overall body of testimonies, documentations, and circumstantial evidence.
My Response: Eleven years and counting and Sathya Sai Baba has never been implicated or convicted of any wrongdoing. Testimonies? I have yet to see a single "testimony" from anyone using a real name. The documentation about the 1993 police shootings comes mostly from investigatory departments and it is Robert Priddy's conspiratorial view that all of these investigatory departments are corrupt, which would mean (of course) that their documentation is equally unreliable and inaccurate. The alleged "circumstantial evidence" is subjective and speculative. Since Robert Priddy is not a lawyer or a forensic expert (nor has he ever received any training as either of these), we must rely on his layman and unsupported speculations and conclusions about "circumstantial evidence".
My Response: Here is a clear admission from Robert Priddy that he does not know what the "exact course of events" were. Consequently, Robert Priddy began his argument by hopelessly and utterly compromising it. One will also notice how Robert Priddy said that "Indian Authorities" (C.B.C.I.D) rejected the F.I.R. (First Information Report) from the police after finding it had no less than 13 scathing inaccuracies that landed 3 police officers in jail. So the C.B.C.I.D did investigate the incident and Robert Priddy just conceded to this fact. However, Robert Priddy believes that the C.B.C.I.D. is corrupt (a claim he made on his original article). If Robert Priddy stands by his original comments, the C.B.C.I.D.'s statement of inaccuracies in the F.I.R. is incorrect. Of course, Robert Priddy believes the opposite, which goes to show how he takes segments he likes and discards segments he does not like in order to form his conspiracy theories.
My Response: That is correct. This is an unresolved case and the evidence was tampered with and destroyed by the police, which means the facts will never be truly known. Unfortunately, this opens a Pandoras box where speculations, assumptions and conspiracy theories multiple fast and furious. Robert Priddy's conspiracy theory is based on his blind speculations and assumptions, not objective facts.
My Response: Here is Robert Priddy's claim that these Governmental persons "quashed" the investigation and are thereby corrupt. Notice how Robert Priddy said, "So what can be asserted without any doubt whatever?" Odd that Robert Priddy would say this, considering he presents his version of the June 6th 1993 incidents as somehow being indisputable, irrefutable, without doubt and based on "facts". Robert Priddy also said, "The collected evidence is still kept secret by authorities..." If this is true, then the alleged evidence that Basava Premanand and Robert Priddy cite, is not the real evidence. If the evidence is still being kept "secret", what is Robert Priddy basing his "facts" on?
1) Sathya Sai Baba explained in a public discourse that he was aware in advance of what would happen to his two servitors who were the first killed by the intruders and warned them how to act, but they ignored his warnings. (see SSB's Discourse 03/07/1993 - http://www.sathyasai.org/search/volume26/sss26-25.pdf)
My Response: Robert Priddy said earlier, "No facts about his alleged healings, other powers or 'good teachings' makes the slightest factual, legal or moral difference to the question of the murders or other crimes attributed to him." Since Robert Priddy wanted to leave Sathya Sai Baba's alleged power of precognition out of the picture, I can only wonder why he brought this up as an "Established Fact"? Sathya Sai Baba did make comments about knowing about the coming incidents that occurred on June 6th 1993. Baba alleged that he gave specific instructions to Radhakrishna (not to the "two servitors" that Priddy erroneously cited) and that Radhakrishna ignored his warnings.
My Response: First of all, Robert Priddy does not know that Sathya Sai Baba was in his room when his two attendants were viciously murdered by the four assailants. It is entirely possible that Baba heard a warning from one or both of these attendants. No one knows for certain (including Robert Priddy). The quote from the newspaper did not say anything about the two attendants being killed while Sathya Sai Baba was in his bedroom. To the contrary, the newspaper implied that they were still alive. In Robert Priddy's original articles, he contended that Sathya Sai Baba was never interrogated about the June 6th 1993 incidents. However, Robert Priddy cited a newspaper article where S.B. Chavan apparently divulged that Baba was interrogated. How else did S.B. Chavan get this information? If this information did not come from Sathya Sai Baba then this is not a first-hand account (which would mean that this information is unreliable). If it is a first-hand account, then Baba was interrogated. Robert Priddy cannot have it both ways. Indian journalists were not present at the Ashram when the 1993 events unfolded. Their articles were published after the fact, based on anonymous stories, rumors and gossip circulating around Puttaparthi. Newspapers initially reported Baba had been killed.
It is clear that at some point Sathya Sai Baba knew that something was seriously wrong. An alarm was sounded and Baba fled his room. It has not been shown that Sathya Sai Baba locked the back door as he left the room (as erroneously contended by Robert Priddy). Since an alarm was sounded and people gathered very quickly, the four intruders locked themselves in Sai Baba's bedroom, having nowhere else to flee because they were surrounded. The police claimed that the doors to Baba's room were locked from the inside, not the outside. This would imply that Baba's bedroom door was not locked from the inside, as the assailants gained entry and locked the doors behind them. If they broke open the door to gain entry, this would have broken the door locks. If they were so determined to get to Sathya Sai Baba, they could have just as easily broke open the back door as well. Robert Priddy wants people to believe that the four assailants had no way out. After breaking through a locked door, the four assailants were all of a sudden confounded about a locked back door! This is ridiculous. Once again, no one knows what happened. The F.I.R. is the only document that made reference to the doors being locked from the inside. There is no way to determine if this claim was fabricated or not. Once again, no one knows (including Robert Priddy).
My Response: This is a blatant lie. No one knew where Sathya Sai Baba was at when the stand-off took place. No one saw Sai Baba being "present" during the standoff. Perhaps Robert Priddy can give us real names and their testimonies filed in official reports? In Robert Priddy's original article, he admitted he did not know where Sathya Sai Baba was at and even gave possible scenarios where Sathya Sai Baba might have been. Robert Priddy based his speculations on anonymous reports. It is true that the standoff lasted several hours and ended with rifle shots being fired by the police around 1am (as confirmed by Baba's own College Staff: Sri G. Balachanda, Sri Sanjay Sahani, Sri Peeyushkmar and a Trustee: Col Jagarao). Of course, in this clarificatory article, Robert Priddy left out a huge chunk of the (dis)information he provided in his original article about the police shooting. I wonder why? It is true that the coroner's report certified that the assailants died due to firearm injuries. The coroner's report made no mention to any other injuries separate from firearm injuries. This is important to remember because Robert Priddy alleged that it was reported by "many" (again, notice the trend of anonymous sources) that the four men were bound, "brutally beaten" and then shot. The coroner's report made no mention to any contusions, broken bones, lacerations, skin abrasions (from being bound) or blunt trauma inconsistent with firearm injuries. This proves that the four assailants were not "brutally beaten" and casts doubt on whether they were even bound. In my opinion, these facts (supported by the coroner's findings) argue in favor of the Police's self-defence claim.
My Response: Where is the documentation for A.P. Rajan and Lokendar Sarma? Who are they? Where are their names listed on any documents? They are not mentioned on the F.I.R., the Remand Report, the Writ Petition, Police Reports, Court Records or any other Reports! I found their names on a Tripod Indian Radical Humanist Association site where it is said:
"Federation of Atheist Rationalist Humanist Associations (FARA), Sai Baba: The reports of Mr. A P Rajan and Lokendar Sarma, police officers who investigated and submitted report on murders in Satya sai Ashram were to be revealed and action should be followed up."
That is the only reference I could find to them. Why doesn't Robert Priddy provide the general public with any documentation to support this claim? Also, Robert Priddy claimed that these "independent officers" were "arbitrarily posted elsewhere before they could present their findings". The brief mention to them on the FARA article stated that they "submitted" their report. Clearly, someone is lying.
Where are the complaints filed by the C.B.I about their investigation being obstructed? This is another amusing claim, made by Robert Priddy, where he got his "facts" dead wrong.
Basava Premanand, in his Writ Petition, said:
"State Government has denied them (CBI) permission to investigate, nor has there been till date a mandatory official notification directing the C.B.I. to inquire into the aforesaid incident."
In response to the Petitioner's (Basava Premanand) claim, Mr. Justice R Ramakrishnam Raju said:
"Further, the allegation that if the investigation is not handed over to the C.B.I., the State Police against whom allegations are made, would not arrest the accused Police Officers is not correct. Even the Police Officers against whom allegations are made, have also been arrested. The petitioner has not come with clean, hands. The petitioner; earlier filed a writ petition unsuccessfully alleging that the Head of the Ashram had violated the provisions of the Gold Control Act. It is finally contended that this Court has no jurisdiction to direct investigation by C.B.I."
Of course, only a Supreme Court, High Court or State Government can direct the CBI to investigate crimes. The CBI was never obstructed because they never undertook the investigation! Click Here to view the CBI's website where it states:
"The CBI does not take up investigation of conventional crimes like murder, theft, robbery etc unless directed by the Supreme Court / High Courts or referred by State Governments. This is because "police" is a State subject under the Indian Constitution and the basic jurisdiction to investigate crimes is that of State police. The CBI's power to investigate cases is derived from the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act. The CBI can investigate the offences notified under this Act in the Union Territories and with the consent of State Governments, in the States. Besides, since the CBI is a small force, administratively also it has not been considered expedient for the CBI to investigate the conventional crimes unless directed by the Supreme Court/High Courts or referred by State Governments."
It is also important to point out that Basava Premanand claimed that the CBI was also corrupt. So would it matter if the CBI investigated the police shootings? Apparently not.
This all goes to show that Robert Priddy, like a true gossip queen and tabloid sensationalist, loves to feed unsubstantiated information to the general public. Wouldn't it actually serve Robert Priddy's best interest if he simply supplied the general public with factual documentation instead of conspiracy theories? I think so.
My Response: Again, Robert Priddy quoted a newspaper article as "evidence". Not only are Indian Newspapers notorious for their sensationalistic approach to stories, they are also well known for their lack of doing basic research. The cited newspaper article made no mention to the names of the "several of the investigating officials" that claimed that Sathya Sai Trust Members did not give them their cooperation.
Although Indulal Shah allegedly made the cited comment, the fact remains that Law Enforcement agencies did investigate. I am sure Indulal Shah would have liked to have kept the incident an internal affair. The truth of the matter is that it wasn't.
My Response: Earth to Robert Priddy: The CBI investigation was never "truncated and quashed" as it was never undertaken in the first place!
Robert Priddy said that since Sathya Sai Baba has "complete authority" over everything that occurs at Prashanti Nilayam, he must be regarded as a willing accomplice to the police-shooting incident on June 6th 1993. This statement only serves to highlight Robert Priddy's extremism, fanaticism and desperation. Four assailants gain entry into the Mandir, viciously murder two people by stabbing them to death, seriously stab two others, make their way into Sathya Sai Baba's bedroom, barricade themselves in his bedroom armed with knives, refuse to give up and are shot to death by police in what they claimed was an act of self-defence. Sathya Sai Baba never shot anyone. Sathya Sai Baba was never present at the scene. There is no evidence or any testimonies from anyone, where Baba directed the police to act. The police are responsible for their actions and decisions and to this day not even one single police officer has come forward to say that Baba was involved in their decision to act (despite 3 police officers being thrown in jail).
Robert Priddy clings to his second coming mentality, hoping that his conspiracy theory will one day be vindicated. Eleven years and counting and Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba has never been implicated (in any way, shape or form) with the police shootings that occurred on June 6th 1993.
My Response: All of these claims are not "irrefutable". They are refutable and have been refuted. It has yet to be established that these were "cold-blooded executions". Where is the proof? Oh yeah, Robert Priddy said the proof was falsified, destroyed, tampered with and hidden. Consequently, Robert Priddy cannot make any assertion with any certainty. Far be it for the "conscienceless" Robert Priddy to take a pro-redress stance regarding the victim's families. Robert Priddy's "redress" to the victim's families is his public broadcasting (on his website) of the pictures of their son's lifeless bodies shot in the face, hands and torso and laying in pools in blood. That is Robert Priddy's idea of "redress" and compassion. This is despicable and unconscionable. Robert Priddy names his articles like tabloid sensationalists, using titles like "SENSATIONAL INSIDE REVELATIONS", etc. It is important to point out that the assailant's families still maintain their devotion to Sathya Sai Baba. Robert Priddy also made mention to the Petition against Sai Baba. Click Here to view my article about this bogus petition. This isn't looking good for Robert Priddy.
No one can convince me that Sai Baba was not complicit in the execution and cover-up or that he fully shares the moral and legal guilt for the incident. This is partly because my close friend, the famous Indian journalist V.K. Narasimhan 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 SSB 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 Janakiramiah on his blackmailing role, to which the latter replied "Dead men tell no tales" and both laughed!
My Response: It is correct that "Dead Men Tell No Tales". This is also applicable to V.K. Narasimhan (a staunch Sai devotee and Sai loyalist to his death). Robert Priddy waited for V.K.N. to die before he began attributing all sorts of rubbish to him, effectively quashing all possibility of verifying his claims. Consequently, all of these unsubstantiated stories that Robert Priddy attributed to V.K.N. are highly suspect and unbelievable.
My Response: Robert Priddy wants to console us with his promise that he is telling the truth! Click Here to view my articles about Robert Priddy and see why I have valid reasons to doubt his credibility (especially his bold-faced and shameless lies about me). Here, we have more unsubstantiated stories that are attributed to the late V.K. Narasimhan, a staunch Sathya Sai Baba devotee and loyalist to his death and who ceaselessly referred to Baba as "Bhagavan" (i.e., "God").
My Response: Click Here to read my article on how Robert Priddy flip-flopped on his views about the Indian Justice System. One must keep in mind that Robert Priddy keeps attributing vast influence to Sathya Sai Baba over high-ranking Indian officials despite his claims that Baba is a lousy fraud magician.
My Response: Once again, Robert Priddy admitted that the evidence was tampered with and a "full scientific criminological investigation" is now an impossibility! Despite these statements of fact, Robert Priddy then concluded that Sathya Sai Baba is "factually implicated" with the police shootings. How does he know? The evidence was destroyed. More wishy-washy and assinine arguments from Robert Priddy.
Either Sai Baba was an accomplice to murder or he was not, despite the fact that he has not (yet) been proven guilty in a court of law. The facts show him to be unable to clear himself of his (indirect) involvement with the police killings and further actual (if legally unproven) guilt as an accomplice to the cover-up of vile murders.
My Response: Leo Rebello alleged that Robert Priddy had sexual relations with Sathya Sai Baba. Either Robert Priddy had sexual involvements with Sathya Sai Baba or he did not. The facts show that Robert Priddy has been unable to clear himself of his involvement in these allegations. As a matter of fact, Robert Priddy's Anti-Rebello site was deleted by AngelTowns due to its defamatory content and a possible lawsuit from Leo Rebello. Robert Priddy deleted his pages on his own website against Leo Rebello and has never filed a court case for libel against him. This must mean, of course, that Robert Priddy is still "factually and morally implicated" in these accusations. Robert Priddy will implement every standard imaginable against Sathya Sai Baba, yet feels that he is perfectly entitled to defend himself simply by making a statement of fact or saying he promises he is telling the truth. Again, where are the "facts"? Robert Priddy has already made several references (on this very same page) that he does not know the facts because the real evidence is being "kept secret" and was destroyed by the police. More face-saving hypocrisy from Robert Priddy.
My Response: Robert Priddy asserted that Sathya Sai Baba was never interrogated about the events that transpired on June 6th 1993. However, Priddy cited a newspaper article making a strong case that Sathya Sai Baba did talk about the events that transpired that night and this information was relayed from S.B. Chavan to top police brass (including Mr. Ramachandriaiah and the A.P crime branch DIG). S.B. Chavan also conferred with Sathya Sai Baba "personally" over "the drawn-out period of investigations afterwards". So much for Priddy's claims that Baba was not interrogated.
My Response: The comment saying: "{a boy in his early teens}" was added to the article by an unnamed person. That parenthesized quote did not appear in the original newspaper article. This proves that someone associated with Robert Priddy fabricated a newspaper article in a brazen attempt to deceive the general public with disinformation. This is not only very disturbing, it is criminal. Furthermore, this story was attributed to an anonymous source and there is no evidence or documentation that a man named "Subbappayya" was ever interrogated (his name does appear in the Writ Petition, the Remand Report, the F.I.R. or any of the numerous other documents related to the June 6th 1993 incidents). There is only one reference to "Subbappayya" and it came from the Indian Express Newspaper, which attributed the story to an anonymous "highly informed source".
My Response: I addressed this very same question in my original article about Robert Priddy's lamentable research into the 1993 police shootings. Where is the proof to back up Robert Priddy's claim that Subbappayya "disappeared and was unavailable to the press or official bodies" and "why was he spirited away and mostly kept incommunicado"? This amounts to nothing less than face-saving deceit when Robert Priddy made a very different case about Subbappayya on his original article about the June 6th 1993 police shootings. Click Here to view my article about Robert Priddy's murder investigation and his comments about Subbappayya. Of course, there are no documents that made any reference to "Subbappayya". None. The source for this information was an anonymous one. Consequently, there is no proof or evidence to back it up. Despite this fact, Robert Priddy used this newspaper clipping as "evidence" to support his conspiracy theory against Sathya Sai Baba. That doesn't sound factual to me.
My Response: Robert Priddy is repeating himself (almost word-for-word). I already addressed these points and I am sure Robert Priddy is trying to reinforce these points because they need all the reinforcement they can get!
My Response: Basava Premanand's book (according to the sections that have been made public on the internet) show that 186 pages are newspaper clipping and hundreds of pages are documents like the Writ Petition, the Remand Report, the Coroner Reports, the F.I.R., etc. It is amusing how Robert Priddy asked for an "unbiased court case". If Robert Priddy's words somehow reflect that which is "unbiased" then I am certain that bias will have it's royal crowning when Robert Priddy gets his way.
It took me well over two years before I was forced - despite my long and deep engagement in the positive aspects of Sai Baba's movement - to even begin cautiously to re-examine all I had been told. This was but a first step, it turned out, in freeing myself progressively from the web of deceits and self-programming to ignore all evidence, a mindset which is required of all Sai followers (by following the 'teaching'). Gradually, the mounting evidence forced me to draw an inevitable conclusion, that Sathya Sai Baba was deeply implicated, having done all he could to suppress and cover up the facts (as in his absurd discourse when he spoke of the events and his foreknowledge of it all). This would make him an accessory to fourfold murder. So he could not be the perfect, pure and innocent divine soul he claimed to be.
My Response: Robert Priddy did not begin to investigate the 1993 police shootings until 1996 (3 years after the fact). Two years after this he penned down his alleged conversations with V.K.N.! It is obvious that Robert Priddy freed himself from one web of deceit and spun another one to thrive on. If we are to believe Robert Priddy we must believe that he uniquely obtained facts and proof from a covered-up crime scene where the evidence was tampered with, destroyed and concealed three years after it happened. This information escaped all the investigating departments and even the C.B.C.I.D. For the past 11 years, not even one person (police officer, student, staff or anyone else for that matter) has come forward with any proof that implicates Sathya Sai Baba with the 1993 police-shooting incidents. Robert Priddy claimed that the "collected evidence" is being "kept secret" by Sathya Sai Baba adherents. If this is true, this means that the real compilation of evidence has not been made public to anyone. Since Robert Priddy believes this, it is amusing that he takes the position that he has found the proof that has escaped everyone else. In my opinion, all of this is rather absurd and pathetic.
My Response: Click Here to view my Witnesses Section that discusses the "massed evidence of sexual abuses of young men and boys" that Robert Priddy made reference to. I have also made many personal sacrifices taking on this project that exposes the lies and deceit spread by Anti-Sai Activists. Despite Robert Priddy's lukewarm lip service to demanding "transparency and accountability", Click Here to view my articles about Robert Priddy (which show that he is hardly qualified to be a spokesperson for these things). Click Here to view my email correspondence with Robert Priddy and see how he caustically reacts to valid and just criticism.
Many (but not all) testimonies concerning sexual molestation and abuse by Sathya Sai Baba were written personal accounts by named persons on the internet. Sworn affidavits have been presented to various US, UK and Australian authorities for their information, though there can be no legal action against Sai Baba in those countries. Very detailed charges were made in a long letter by Hari Sampath to the Indian Criminal Bureau of Investigation and a Writ Petition (backed by sworn affidavits) was taken to the Supreme Court of India (8/5/2001). Though the Supreme Court's raison d'être is to allow redress for ordinary citizens who cannot get a fair hearing in other courts, the judges G.B. Pattanaik and R.C. Lahoti rejected the petition out of hand. Making clear mistakes on which Counsel had to correct them, and repeatedly interrupting and refusing to listen to the two leading Counsel, Kamini Jaiswal and Prashant Kumar who appeared on behalf of the Petition, the judges told them to present the Petition to the Andhra Pradesh High Court. Subsequently, officials expunged nearly all records of the petition, but one copy of the judgement eacaped their attention and is certified as a true copy. The documentation of this petition is still being held for future use, along with the original 20 affidavits presented to the Indian CBI in 2001. The court judgement stated:
"We are not inclined to entertain this petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India. It is accordingly dismissed. The petitioner may approach the appropriate forum." Signed, Court Masters: J.S. Rawat & Suneet Bala Sharma.
My Response: Robert Priddy is fudging the facts, again. "Many" is 7. Seven people have made their testimonies public using their (alleged) real names. 8 others used pseudonyms or partial names. A grand total of 15 alleged sexual abuse victims. Robert Priddy made mention to "sworn affidavits" being presented to various authorities, but none of these have ever been made public. Robert Priddy discussed the story about Hari Sampath detailing his allegations in a letter sent to the C.B.I., which was allegedly sent with 20 affidavits. Needless to say, nothing ever precipitated from Sampath's actions. One will notice that Robert Priddy again claimed that there were "20 affidavits" although he said (in his new Anti-Sai Book, "End Of The Dream") that Ojvind Kyro will only verify that he has ten affidavits, not twenty. Where did the other ten affidavits disappear to? Priddy also claimed that many of these alleged "affidavits" have been made public on Anti-Sai websites. I have yet to see even one affidavit that has been made public on the internet (Anti-Sai Activists seem confused between affidavits and written stories not attested before a Judge or notary). Despite Robert Priddy's claims about G.B. Pattanaik and R.C. Lahoti, he failed to provide any scans to documentation or paperwork to back up his claims (notice the trend?). Click Here to view my affidavits page.
My Response: Just because the Counsel did not get their way they immediately attributed their many failures to corruption and the Justices being Sai devotees, etc. Highly unbelievable. Take this issue to the sensationalistic Indian media and there would be a feeding frenzy. Guess what? No feeding frenzy.
My Response: Again, take this issue to the sensationalistic Indian media and then file the court case and see what happens. Nothing has happened.
The Sathya Sai Organisation and practically every Sai devotee besides are completely mute about these events, and one need hardly speculate why! It shows that there are no known cogent reasons to reject the overwhelming suspicion which has caused so many persons to stand forth and sign the petition to have Sai Baba and his minions legally investigated. Few arguments have ever surfaced to defend Sai Baba, the prime agenda of his main supporters being to seal the cover-up and try to avert further official investigation and defy justice. They are, however, unable to control all blind believers in Sai Baba who choose to attack exposé activists on bulletin boards, guestbooks, by e-mail etc.
My Response: I believe that people are completely mute over these events because they honestly do not know what happened (unlike Robert Priddy who thinks he knows everything). Sathya Sai Baba enjoys great popularity and receives tremendous charitable contributions from oversea devotees. This hardly makes a case that there is "overwhelming suspicion" against Sathya Sai Baba. These specious suspicions altogether exemplify Anti-Sai paranoia and their attempts to deceive others into thinking there is more to the Sai Controversy than there really is.
Robert Priddy also talked about "blind believers" who attack "exposé activists on bulletin boards, guestbooks, by e-mail etc." Don't expect the hypocritical Robert Priddy to divulge the fact that he and his Anti-Sai friends, like Reinier Van Der Sandt, Afshin Khorramshahgol, Sanjay Dadlani and Tony O'Clery have viciously attacked and defamed me on the internet. Click Here to view the hate mail I received from Anti-Sai Activists, which even includes a death threat. Click Here to view my article about the bogus petition at SaiPeition.net. It most certainly appears that the only people trying to deceive the general public are Anti-Sai Activists.
The fact remains: Sai Baba, his brother Janakiramiah, and the Sathya Sai Central Trust and ashram officials have actively hindered due investigation of the murders. Sai Baba has always been claimed by virtually all who work or live in his ashrams to have complete care and concern for every detail and arrangement therein; he exercises complete control and official authority. Despite his self-styled 'omniscience' and 'omnipotence,' his passive complicity (at the least) is evident from how he hid in the garage to which he had fled, where he was visited by Joga Rao, his brother Janaki ramiah and others during the stand-off with the four intruders, who were carrying only knives. Trapped in Sai Baba's bedroom for hours, they were finally gunned down by police with dozens of rifle bullets.
My Response: Robert Priddy admitted he does not know the facts, because the evidence was destroyed, tampered with and concealed! Where is the proof that Janakiramiah and the Sathya Sai Central Trust actively hindered the investigation into the police shootings? The alleged "proof" came from V.K. Narasimhan, a staunch devotee of Sathya Sai Baba to his death. In order to believe the tall-tales that Robert Priddy attributed to V.K.N., one must give up common sense reasoning. One must blindly believe the words of Robert Priddy, who is clearly and unequivocally vindictive, bitter and angry against Sathya Sai Baba. Robert Priddy, despite admitting that he did not know where Sathya Sai Baba was at when the police-shooting took place (in his original article), stated matter-of-factly that Baba hid in a garage and was visited by Joga Rao and Janakiramiah! Anyone with any sort of intellectual independence can clearly see through the thick muck of Robert Priddy's double talk and bold-faced lies and deceit.
In the USA, police officers can shoot to kill if they feel that they are being threatened with a weapon. As a matter of fact, many police officers have been acquitted of killing civilians due to self defence claims. Amadou Diallo was gunned down by four police officers, who fired 41 times (hitting him 19 times) because they mistook his wallet for a gun. All four officers were acquitted. Robert Priddy tried to make it seem as if the four assailants were defenceless because they were armed with "only knives"! One must remember that these four assailants were cold-blooded murderers who killed 2 people and stabbed two others. I would like to see Robert Priddy disarm someone with a knife (knowing that 4 people were viciously stabbed and seeing pools of blood on the floor) without using a gun.
My Response: Obviously, this is not as simple as Robert Priddy would like for us to believe. None of my comments are dependent on Sathya Sai Baba's alleged claims to divinity. Since Robert Priddy claimed that the real evidence is being "kept secret", one would think that this "secret" evidence is what is needed to prove Baba's complicity in the 1993 police shootings. Since Robert Priddy does not have this evidence, he is basing all of his conclusions on speculations, assumptions and conspriacy theories.
Note: one aggrieved guru-worshipper tries hard with every trick in the book from ad hominem arguments, peripheral nit-picking, to personal slurs and defamation to obfuscate the Sai Baba murders and sex abuse issues. He could not handle the facts as repeated above, and has been unable to disprove on any documented or properly reasoned basis anything I have written about it. His boast is that he took just two hours to trump up his skimpy and fact-free 'rebuttal' aiming to whitewash Sai Baba of all guilt! But it takes at least 10 hours to speed-read Basava Premanand's 800-page plus book "Murders in Sai Baba's Bedroom", even without stopping to analyse anything. This querulous individual had never seen this out0f-print volume, for he got the title wrong and did not know photos of the bloody victims were first published in it.
My Response: Notice that Robert Priddy is afraid to even mention my name! Nor does Robert Priddy provide a link to my article about the 1993 police shootings where I take issue with his lamentable "investigation". This shows whom is a hypocrite and whom is fearful of the truth. I am not afraid to mention Robert Priddy's name. Nor am I afraid to provide links to his website. I want people to read his articles and to arrive at sober and well-formed conclusions themselves. Robert Priddy is clearly talking about me. Click Here (scroll down to the bottom of the page) and see how Robert Priddy accused me of the very same thing he made mention to in this article, i.e., "This querulous individual had never seen this out0f-print volume, for he got the title wrong and did not know photos of the bloody victims were first published in it." Of course, Robert Priddy failed to divulge that:
- Basava Premanand called the title to his book: "6 murders in Sai Baba's Bed Room" (Reference), wrote the title to his page: "Six Murders in Sai Baba's Bed Room" (Reference), which was taken from another page that had the News Title "Six murders in Sai Baba's Bed Room" (Reference).
Despite these facts, and despite the fact that I gave the correct title to the book on my Murders Section about Basava Premanand, Robert Priddy desperately clung to one comment I made in an email to Dave Lyons where I said the title was "Six Murders In Sai Baba's Bedroom" (which Basava Premanand said no less than three times)! Click Here to view my article about Robert Priddy's lamentable investigation into the 1993 murders. Click Here to view a website that has, for years, listed the title to Premanand's book as "Six Murders In Sai Baba's Bedroom" (a title they got from Basava Premanand's site), which Robert Priddy has never dissented with.
Furthermore, I knew the pictures came from Basava Premanand's book. It was Robert Priddy (not Basava Premanand) who published these grotesque images on his website, caring less for the bereaved mothers and fathers who must endure the unfathomable anguish of seeing their son's lifeless bodies casually broadcast over the internet through Robert Priddy's website. Robert Priddy is a cold, dark and bitter extremist who deceptively, maliciously and unremittingly attempts to deceive the general public by associating pictures of bloodied corpses with Sathya Sai Baba (accusing him of being an accomplice in murder without proof)! Robert Priddy is now being held accountable for his despicable words and gutter behavior. No dealing with him later, I am dealing with him now.