Kurnool: The controversial Bhagawan Bala Saibaba of Kurnool has died of cardiac arrest at a private hospital in Hyderabad on early hours of Tuesday. His body would be cremated at the palatial Bala Sai Nilayam in Kurnool on Wednesday.
He was born in Kurnool on January 14, 1960 as Sheshasayee Sharma in the family of a Keralite Palakkad Brahmin family. His father, Ramanatha Shastri, was an Ayurvedic practitioner and his mother’s name was Jayalakshmi Amma. “Politicians from all parties in Kurnool allegedly pampered him during his hey days deifying and using him as a front to run their parallel business,” said a senior politician.
According to Baba’s younger brother Srinivasa Rao, Baba was a diabetic. He developed complications with heart attack on the night of Monday. We shifted him to a private hospital in Banjara Hills with GI bleeding. “A doctor at Kurnool said that if patient, who has gastric problem and ulcers and takes any tablets like Aspirin, he suddenly bleed heavily in intestine, producing shock and because of hypertension it produces cardiac arrest.”
Initiated into the sainthood at the age of 18, Bala Saibaba had built up a vast clientele of rich and famous from around the world and mesmerised them with manifesting Shiva Linga from his stomach on every Shiva Ratri. He was also allegedly involved in the land grabbing cases.
In many aspects, Bala Sai imitated Puttaparthi Saibaba to charm his devotees, gaining an epithet of Chota Sai Baba, said a person who knows the rise and growth of the Bala Sai Baba empire in Kurnool and Hyderabad.
Baba was allegedly leading a hedonistic lifestyle and wallowing in wads of cash. On November 7, 2012, the Hyderabad police found three bags containing Rs 6.7 crore abandoned in an auto. While the auto driver and the man carrying the bags escaped, trust executive officer Ramarao met Hyderabad Police a week later to claim that this money was meant for building activity in the ashram. The matter was handed over to the Income-Tax department, which is still investigating the case.
