Police summons Sai Baba's nephew, trust official

Hyderabad: Doubts about the amount and nature of cash owned by late Sathya Sai Baba continue with the Andhra Pradesh police today summoning his nephew R J Ratnakar and Sathya Sai Central Trust member V Srinivasan for questioning in connection with the seizure of Rs 35.5 lakh from Puttaparthi town recently. Notices were issued to Ratnakar and Srinivasan asking them to appear before the Investigating Officer probing the case of seizure of Rs 35.5 lakh in a vehicle allegedly belonging to the Sai Central Trust within the next three days. [caption id=“attachment_29613” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Sai Baba is dead. The controversies live on. Adnan Abidi/Reuters”]  [/caption] “The duo would be questioned as part of investigations into the cash seizure case as names of the duo came out during interrogation of three accused, who were arrested after seizure of the vehicle,” said a police officer. The questioning is likely to be conducted on Thursday in Puttaparthi town, the police officer, who is supervising the cash seizure investigations, said. A four-wheeler carrying Rs 35.5 lakh in cash was confiscated during checking at Kodikonda checkpost under Chilamanthur Police station limits bordering Karnataka on 18 June. Police have arrested three persons including its driver Harishnanda Shetty, besides Srinivasan’s driver Chandrashekhar alias Shekhar and an engineer Sohanshetty in connection with the cash seizure. Police have also served notices to others Sadashiv and Venkatesh, (a personal assistant of Srinivasan), though the duo are out of Andhra Pradesh and had sought time to appear before the police. PTI