...may be something was posted already along that line, but I am not aware of it...
Taken From
Reports of sexual abuse
Main article: Reports of homosexual abuse by Sathya Sai Baba
In 2004 the BBC aired the documentary titled Secret Swami in the United Kingdom. The documentary covered the allegations and experiences of former devotees. The BBC team states that they discovered that there are a number of former devotees who have turned away the from Sai Baba claiming that he ruined their lives.[10] In the documentary Alaya Rahm, who was brought up as a devotee by his parents, recounts his experience of being sexually abused by the swami: "I remember him saying, if you don't do what I say, your life will be filled with pain and suffering. And that’s a pretty heavy thing to hear being sixteen and God’s telling you do what I say or your life is going to be full of pain and suffering." In what the BBC states was as "an intimate and powerful" portrait, Alaya's family discusses how they became devotees and how they were betrayed. The documentary also touches upon the experience of Mark Roche. Roche, who first heard of the Baba in 1969 and had devoted twenty-five years of his life to the movement, recounts his experience of suffering sexual abuse in the hands of the Baba.[10] BBC states that "Genuine Sai Baba followers like the Rahm family have had their faith shattered in the most disturbing manner. The man they believed to be God was repeatedly sexually abusing their son. All over the world similar stories are emerging from former devotees. Governments around the world are deeply concerned and are beginning to take action warning their citizens about Sai Baba." According to a BBC reporter, so many western devotees have undergone genital oiling by Sai Baba that they have come to believe it is some religious ritual. Indian writer Khushwant Singh reacts to this by saying that this genital oiling is not part of any Indian tradition and that there is no basis to the claim whatsoever.[10][55] The documentary was also broadcast in Australia and ,by the CBC, in Canada.
The documentary Seduced By Sai Baba, produced by Denmark's national television and radio broadcaster Danish radio was aired in Denmark, Australia and Norway. The documentary carried interviews in which former long-term devotees recount experiencing sexual violations in the hands of the godman. The documentary also carried exposés of how the purported miracles are done by the godman.
Ex-devotees have contacted the FBI, Interpol, the Indian Supreme Court and a host of other agencies, hoping for help in their battle against the guru. A California man named Glen Meloy, who spent 26 years as a Sai devotee, is trying to organize a class-action lawsuit against Sai Organization leaders in America, modeled on the one recently launched against the Hare Krishnas. [11] His faith was shattered when he was shown excerpts from the diary of his close friend's 15-year-old son, detailing several incidents of molestation. The child of devotees, the boy had been raised to worship Sai Baba as God, and obliged when the master reportedly ordered his disciple to suck his penis. "You've got all these kids who are scared to death to do anything that will do disrespect to their parents, in a room with someone they believe to be the creator of the whole universe," said Meloy, his voice choked with fury. "This isn't just any child abuse; this is God himself claiming to do this."[11] According to The Times, a complaint was lodged with India's Central Bureau of Investigation on March 12, 2001 but there has been no apparent result.[27]
Hari Sampath, an Indian software professional now living in Chicago and a former volunteer in the ashram's security service, is petitioning India's Supreme Court to order the central government to investigate Sai Baba. His greatest concern is for Sai Baba's Indian victims, who generally have a much more difficult time speaking out than Westerners do. During his time at Prasanthi Nilayam, he said, many students at the ashram's college told him they were pressured to have sex with the guru. "I've spoken to 20 or 30 boys who have been abused, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are 14-year-old kids made to live in his room and made to think it's a blessing. In most cases, their parents have been followers for 20 years and are not going to believe them," Sampath said by phone from Chicago. "Westerners have little to lose by coming forward. The Indians have to go on living among Sai Baba devotees."[11] Sampath also wants the American government to intervene, on the grounds that "American citizens have been knowing about this abuse and taking American boys to Puttaparthi and feeding them to him."[11]
In 2000 UNESCO withdrew its cosponsorship of an education conference in Puttaparthi, explaining that it was "deeply concerned about widely reported allegations of sexual abuse involving youths and children that have been leveled at the leader of the movement in question, Sathya Sai Baba."[11]
After Conny Larsson, a Swedish film star who once traveled the world speaking of Sai Baba's miracles, went public about his coerced sexual relations with the guru, the Sai Organization in Sweden was shut down, along with a Sai-affiliated school[10][11]. A cover story in the weekly magazine India Today reports that following a story in Brtain's Daily Telegraph, "Labour MP Tony Colman raised the issue in Parliament. A former home office minister, Tom Sackville, also took up the matter, saying, 'The authorities have done little so far and that is regrettable.' There is a movement now to urge the British Government to issue warnings to people wanting to visit Baba's ashram." [10]
According to Michelle Goldberg, the fact that the Baba has high ranking Indian politicians as his supporters and the purported charity works associated with the baba help to explain why he has not been brought into a court of law in India. The Indian consulate website states that crime victims must file charges with the police. Goldberg notes that Sai Baba's charities have reportedly been plagued though by "rumors of chicanery and worse."[11]
In an article that was published in the India Today magazine in December 2000, it was stated that no complaints had been filed against Sathya Sai Baba by any alleged victim, in India. The magazine stated they are in possession of an affidavit signed by Jens Sethi (an ex-devotee) and reported that he filed a complaint with the police in Munich.[11][43]
According to The Times, "Suicides and suspicious deaths have long marred his [the godman's] reputation. A German man was found hanging from a rafter in Puttaparthi in the early 1980s. A father and daughter took fatal overdoses in Bangalore in 1999 after failing to get an audience with the guru."[27] In August 2001, The Times reported: "Michael Pender, a student, hoped that Sai Baba would be able to cure him of HIV. Like thousands of devotees from around the world, Mr Pender went on a pilgrimage to Sai Baba's ashram in Puttaparthi, southern India, expecting to find magic and divinity. Instead Mr Pender, known as "Mitch", was found dead after taking tablets in the lonely bedroom of a hostel for the homeless in Highbury, North London. He was 23." The article notes Kathleen Ord, who first told him of Sai Baba's teachings, has since destroyed her books and videos on the holy man, stating: "I blame myself in many ways because, if I hadn't introduced them, Mitch would probably be alive now. That's what he went to India for, thinking he'd find a cure...He tried to commit suicide in the ashram. He had overdosed on drugs more than once. He had some strange, very powerful experiences there. There was something sexual that was frightening." Her son, Keith, has given a detailed account of what Mr Pender said in his last weeks about meeting Sai Baba. The guru flattered the British student by describing him as "the reincarnation of St Michael." Mr Ord's evidence, posted on the Internet, states: "He told me that the very first private interview that he had with SB was a sexual encounter.".."After telling me of his experiences, Michael became quite depressed." On January 12, 1990, Mr Pender's body was found by the supervisor of his hostel. Traces of paracetamol and alcohol were found in his blood, but a pathologist found it impossible to determine if they were lethal doses. An open verdict was recorded at an inquest in St Pancras. [9]The Times article goes on to outline two more stories, one of which is about Andrew Richardson, a 33 year old British national. Richardson made a pilgrimage to Sai Baba's ashram, booking in for a week, but mysteriously leaving after only two days. On September 19, 1996, Mr Richardson travelled to Bangalore and hired a taxi at the railway station to one of the city's tallest buildings, the State Bank of Mysore. Mr Richardson flung banknotes and travellers' cheques in the air, ran into the bank and up the stairs to the eighth floor, where he smashed a window and leapt 84ft to the ground, killing himself. A suicide note was found saying he was in a deep depression: "I came to India in search of peace but could not find it." [9]
The Guardian and DNA note that a travel warning was issued by the US State Department about reports of "inappropriate sexual behavior by a prominent local religious leader", which officials confirm is a direct reference to Sai Baba.[58][59] The Guardian further expressed concerns over a contingent of 200 youths travelling to the Baba's ashram in order to gain their Duke of Edinburgh Awards. [15]
"Sai Baba was my God -- who dares to refuse God? He was free to do whatever he wanted to do with me; he had my trust, my faith, my love and my friendship; he had me in totality", says Iranian-American former follower Said Khorramshahgol. What Sai Baba chose to do with him, Khorramshahgol says, was to repeatedly call him into private interviews and order him to drop his pants and massage his penis.[11]
The Daily Telegraph reported, in October 2000, of the allegations. The article touched upon the testimony of several ex-devotees and their children who shared their experience of sexual abuse by the baba. [15] Koert van der Velde, a reporter for Dutch newspaper Trouw, noted that Sathya Sai Baba apparently started forbidding his devotees to not look at the internet after the allegations arose.[60] In the years 1999 and 2000, Sai Baba has repeatedly belittled internet and technology and discouraged its use.[61][62]
The Vancouver Sun notes that with "the sex scandal rapidly being unveiled on various Internet sites and in a few newspapers, Sai Baba has told his adherents, whose numbers range from 10 million to 50 million, depending on whom you talk to, not to sign on to the World Wide Web."[63]
The BBC states that "The scale of the abuse has caused alarm around the world. In Sweden a Sai Baba school closed down after disturbing revelations from a young boy."[10] The Swedish wing of the organization also closed down shortly following the allegations and exposés.