FORMER SAI BABA FOLLOWERS - JENS SETHI & HIS WIFE, GULPRIT SETHI, ON THEIR DANGEROUS ESCAPE FROM SAI BABA

A German devotee, Jens Sethi, and his wife lodged an affidavit with the prosecutor in Munich concerning Sai Baba's treatment of them, and an article was published in 'Bild' in August 2000 (see on right with translation below)

From : MUNICH/GERMANY
Source : Jens Sethi – A letter to David
Subject : EXPERIENCES OF AN EX-SAI BABA DEVOTEE

Hello David Bailey, I am giving you a thorough account of my traumatic experiences with Sathya Sai Baba and hope that this will help people understand what he is

all about. All the details are the truth and can be seen as testimony. I could and would testify to the following in an open court.

I am thirty-five years old and have been interested in spiritual matters since my childhood. For a long time I worshipped Jesus and Padre Pio, then after reading Yogananda’s ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ I turned towards the yogi path.

In October 1988 I became an ardent follower of Sathya Sai Baba, and came to Puttaparthi for the first time in September 1989. Since then I visited Puttaparthi regularly

every year and was totally absorbed in the ‘aura’ of Sai Baba. I was fully convinced of his avatarhood and became so devoted that I was thinking and contemplating all the time about him alone.

In 1989 I read ‘Lord of the Air’ by Tal Brooks (a young male USA ex-devotee who wrote of Sai Baba’s sexual abuse of him), but I did not believe,
thinking “Tal only wants to decry Baba”. I was just ignoring the facts.

Over the years I had hundreds of darshans but never an interview. In 1993 I became a little suspicious about Sai Baba’s lifestyle and the activities in the ashram. Every year I
could see costly new buildings and felt an increasing commercialisation was going on. In 1996 I saw Sai Baba leaving the ashram in an expensive ‘Jaguar’ and other costly cars like ‘Mercedes’ and ‘BMW’ of the big class. But I still believed him to be the Kali avatar of the age.

On 17th January 1996 I got my first interview and he was very kind telling me nice things like “I will give you everything” as he touched and stroked my head. He said “I know you’re not sure about your life and future and so on. Also unhappiness from women. I know, don’t worry. Also you have some bad thoughts, not good”. Then he said “I give you everything according to health, spirituality and life. Everything. I give you infinite love. You and me will become one”. I touched his robe and he put his hand on the top of my head saying “I give you separate interview”.

On 20th January 1996 I got the second interview. Already days before, he had established a strange eye-contact with me indicating the coming interview. My wife and I went to the interview and he acted very disappointed at seeing me together with my wife. He took me alone into the interview room and said “She is diseased and much older than you. Please separate from her”. I was really shocked and replied “She is attached to me”.

I asked him to give her some spiritual instruction, which he readily agreed to do, but he had something else on his mind.

Without asking permission he started kissing me on my lips for some time, and later asked me to open my trousers and ‘materialised’ some oil which he rubbed on the skin above my genitals. I felt very bad about all of this, but accepted, as I fully trusted Sai Baba.

Then he took my wife into the private interview room alone, and told her “Either you separate from the boy or I throw you out of Puttaparthi!”. He appeared wild and furious (my wife told me afterwards) and she shivered all over. When she reappeared in a very short time, looking red faced and very scared, nobody dared ask her what happened in there.

He saw me again some days later in darshan and asked whether I had separated or not. I said “Not yet”. He turned away and shouted so all people could hear “Bad, Bad boy!!!”

He was so aggressive and seemed to radiate such an aura of evil that I was really shocked. We immediately left and went to north India for some pilgrimage.

This was a turning point, but after a time I decided to go once more to Sai Baba to clarify the matter. At the end of 1996 I returned to India and got interview on 4th December. In the interview he said “Where are you from?” When I told him I was from Germany, he responded “You are also a Hitler!”. Shocked, I thought to myself “He is not very kind is he?”

Nevertheless, in the private room the greedy old man kissed me again direct and continuously on my lips for about twenty seconds, and gently stroked my back. By now I was certain that something was very wrong.

On 28th December I was again called for interview and he produced a golden ring which didn’t fit well on my finger in spite of his blowing on it. In the private chamber he said “Come” and again kissed me on the lips for some time as before. This time I resisted and he gurgled “Have no fear”. I said “I have no fear”. Then he said “This is a good opportunity, so many waiting for months and will not get”. This baffled me. I’m sure people don’t wait for mouth kisses in Puttaparthi.

Then his mood totally changed and I did have some fear. He commanded me to remove my trousers, unzipped my fly and went with his right hand into my underpants. Sathya Sai Baba the ‘divine’ touched and massaged my genitals unasked. He expected some erection, but this didn’t happen for I didn’t feel any sexual excitement, no lust in the presence of a seventy years old man. I was really disgusted. Then he had the impudence to say “It is very weak, don’t waste energy”. When I looked at him I realised the truth about him and was shocked indeed. Soon afterwards, without another word, he sent me out of the room.

Back in Germany I did intense research on the internet and came across an article from Jed Geyerhahn and was very happy to have found somebody with similar experiences.

As I still had some luggage in Puttaparthi I returned in November 1999 to collect it, taking with me two internet pages to discuss with some friends there. Unfortunately a lady came into possession of the material and took it to the Puttaparthi police station. Then I went through several interrogations with the police there.

A Mr. Reddy repeatedly asked from whom I got the material, and what would be the password. I told him India is still a democracy and I can carry whatever material I have with me, but he took no heed of my words. I told him that no password was needed to enter the net and everyone has free access to the material there. He sent me to an e-mail shop, accompanied by a policeman who waited, but the computers connected with Hydrabad are very slow, and therefore I could not enter the website.

Finally the inspector, Mr. Reddy, took my passport away and said “Unless you give me the password and name of the person I declare you guilty and will not allow you to leave Puttaparthi”. He treated me very badly, like a criminal, especially during the last interrogation and I had several witnesses to this incident. All of this because I had been in possession of two pages which I had not even written myself.

He then walked me, my wife and an American friend into the ashram, and once inside the gate, he again asked me the stupid question about the password. At the time I couldn’t understand why he should do so, but today I know he was showing us to some people or trustees whom we could not see or recognise.

I had another appointment on 1st November with the police, which was the day I intended to go to Delhi, but without my passport it would not be possible. On 30th October, late in the evening, two people whom I know and an unknown person came to our unit and one of them warned me that my life was in danger and I should leave immediately.

My wife and I left very early next morning, for Delhi. At Dharmmavaram rail station the police were searching for us, but we entered the train at Anantapur. There is a police station near the platform which we had to pass to enter the train, and the very moment I saw that I told my wife to go into the train separately. My wife heard a group of policemen talking about searching for somebody and caught the words ‘passport, Delhi and telegram’. We were in serious danger but fortunately I was dressed like an Indian, and escaped identification.

So we escaped and reached Delhi, and went immediately to the German Embassy. I got a travel document after telling them of my experience, and the Embassy official said a protest note would be sent to the Indian Government. He told me such an act is illegal and they knew of similar cases.

I want to inform you that at the police station in Puttaparthi the policeman had a bunch of both foreign and Indian passports in a drawer under a table, and once I saw them in his hand. This is just an observation, I don’t know to whom they belonged.

During this frightening time at Puttaparthi I met an Italian couple we knew there and tried to tell them what had happened to me in interview with Sai Baba. They just closed their eyes and the lady shouted “Be quiet!! Shut up!! Sai Baba is our God, and all the bad stories are not true!!” Then they turned away. These same people had told me many years before that they could never find any peace at the ashram, and couldn’t understand it. But they would not listen to those who know it better. Nobody can possibly imagine how I felt while all of this was happening. I suffered a lot.

I met one ex-soldier from Ruanda who is very tall and handsome. This person has also been sexually molested by Sai Baba and he told me his story. He is married and his Japanese wife is a fanatical Sai Baba supporter. They have one child. He totally depends on her and can see no way to get free from Sai Baba. He has been given many gifts from Sai Baba like rings, bracelet, gold watch. Sai Baba touched his testicles and massaged his genitals at least twice. The gifts look like payment for prostitution, but a prostitute and her customer have a mutual agreement whereas the male devotees are molested against their will, and they come for a completely different purpose.

Our strong faith in Sai Baba has been misused by the same Baba, through his paedophile behaviour, and this is the most disgraceful thing he could do.

However there are many other irregularities waiting to be clarified. I also want to let you know that Baba was willing to leave Puttaparthi on 28th November 1999 for Bangalore for a heart treatment but he didn’t because of the internet story about it. This is known to me from the police inspector who blamed me for having brought the internet pages to Puttaparthi. I have a good friend in Puttaparthi who is a shop keeper, and he had already told me that in November 1999 Baba had two heart attacks and went for treatment to Bangalore. He also said that most of the people who know about it don’t believe that Sai Baba will survive the next two years.

The Trustees are very concerned and alarmed about the internet.

Further I want to let you know (in case you do not) that Sathya Sai Baba was not born in Puttaparthi but in Karnatakka-Nagepalle village near Puttaparthi. Baba’s mother came from this place and according to tradition she has to deliver the child where she comes from. I know this from a person who was born in Puttaparthi and lives there for over forty years. The villager said it is an open secret, everyone knows it but is fearful to say it. You see, from the very beginning Baba and his followers were lying.

Please study the statement Krishna, a friend of Sai Baba’s youth, made to Erlendur Haraldsson. Never was a devotee so close to Sai Baba for such a long time as Krishna. He spent twenty-four hours a day with Sai Baba for some time. This was almost sixty years ago. Eventually Krishna left Sai Baba and went to Hydrabad. In an interview with Haraldsson, Krishna said that even in those days Sai Baba was more like a politician or chieftain of a feudal system. Krishna also said “Whatever Baba may have, one thing he has not, and this is compassion”.

I hope that this nightmare comes to an end and I hope that by the Grace of the Almighty, all people round the globe may know about the misdeeds of Sai Baba, a mighty demon who came in the guise of a spurious saint, only interested in self-glorification, name and fame.

He is a master – of deception.

Yours sincerely, Jens and Gurprit Sethi