HYDERABAD: More and more skeletons are tumbling out of Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust’s cupboard. Investigators, probing the seizure of Rs 35 lakh, have found that two persons, who donated Rs 6 lakh each to someone for the construction of Baba’s Mahasamadhi, had also collected Rs 16 lakh from seven others for the same purpose.Besides grilling the two - Neelappa and Narayana Shetty -- in the next few days, the sleuths will question the management of the Bangalore- based Shankar Narayan Constructions which was awarded the contract to construct the samadhi.Sources associated with the investigation told Express that three donors had donated Rs 7 lakh. While one K Suresh gave Rs 3 lakh, Raghavendra Prasad and Raghunandan donated Rs 2 lakh each.Interestingly, Neelappa and Narayana collected Rs 16 lakh from seven others. Their names are still not known. In fact, trust member V Srinivasan, who replied to 91 questions posed by the investigators, named Neelappa, Shetty, Suresh, Raghavendra Prasad and Raghunandan but claimed ignorance about the seven others.“It is not clear why Neelappa and Narayana Shetty took the initiative on their own and collected the remaining Rs 16 lakh,” sources said. The police are trying to find out on whose directions did the donors give the money.“Who called them up for money and how did the caller arrive at the magic figure of Rs 35 lakh is being probed,” they said. They are in the process of obtaining details of banks from which the donors had withdrawn the cash and when they handed it over to the “caller.” The donors will be asked to show papers pertaining to the bank transactions.DSP Kolar Krishna, who is probing the case, will leave for Bangalore to question the management of Shankar Narayan constructions. “We have to find out why only Rs 35 lakh was asked, why not more or less and how they arrived at that figure,” sources said. Though investigators are treading cautiously, they have come to the conclusion that there is no transparency in the cash transactions of the Sai Trust.“Despite the fact that the cash was seized, the trust members chose to remain mum for 10 days. Where was the need to remain silent for so many days when so many doubts were being raised ?” wondered officials.So far, none knows the estimated cost of the Mahasamadhi.“The manner in which the money was donated, that too in cash, is giving scope for more and more doubts,” officials said.Meanwhile, the police are comparing the statements of trust members RJ Ratnakar and Srinivasan for contradictions if any. IT officials quiz 3 accused againAnantapur: The three accused in the transportation of Rs 35.5 lakh cash from Prasanthi Nilayam to Bangalore - Harish Nandasetty, Sohan Setty and Chandrasekhar were again questioned by Hindupur IT officer Sadanand on Wednesday. The trio were questioned two days back. The IT official refused to divulge the details stating that he would be submitting the report to court.According to sources, the trio had reportedly told the officer that six devotees of Satya Sai Baba from both Andhra and Karnataka had given the money. Their statement is quite contrary to that of Trust members Srinivasan and Ratnakar, who claimed that the money belonged to devotees from Tamil Nadu. It was also reported that the police were planning to issue notices to the devotees, whose names, Srinivasan said to have submitted to the court.
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