[nukkad] Sai Baba could be put on UK blacklist

["Nelson Fernandes" <>]

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Tip of the day:  What we need is either less corruption, or more chance to 
participate in it.
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Sai Baba could be put on UK blacklist
Vijay Dutt
(London, August 27)
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Followers of the Sai Baba may think him divine. However, the British Foreign
Office is reportedly taking a less kind view of the Andhra holy man.
According to a report in The Times, the Foreign Office is believed to be
studying Sai Baba's "activities and considering issuing an unprecedented
warning against the guru to travellers".

The article claims a former Home Office Minister and chairman of an
anti-cult group, Tom Sackville, has urged the British government to take
action to warn young Britons about getting involved with the guru. A
spokesperson of the British High Commission in New Delhi said his office had
received no such report or advice from London.

The Times claims "three Britons have apparently taken their lives after
placing hope in India's most popular holy man". It alleges the three men
"died mysteriously" after becoming the Sai Baba's followers. The report said
one Briton had complained of sexual assaults by the guru at his ashram in
Puttaparthi near Bangalore.

One of the three was Michael Pender, an HIV-positive student who was found
dead at a hostel for the homeless in north London after taking alcohol and
painkillers. Reportedly, he had earlier tried to commit suicide at the
ashram.

Another one was Aran Edwards, a classical guitarist and a post-graduate
theology student, who hanged himself at home in Cardiff after joining a Sai
Baba support group.

The third person, Andrew Richardson, 33, allegedly jumped off a building
shortly after visiting the ashram.

Sai Baba followers in the UK have complained about the report. Dee Puri at
the London headquarters of the Sai Baba charities denied claims of sexual
harassment. "As far as I am concerned Baba is a great, great guru," she
says.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/280801/detfro06.asp





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