Bala Sai Baba No More

Hyderabad: Spiritual Guru and popular Godman from Kurnool, Bala Saibaba (58) breathed his last at a private Hospital in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad on Tuesday. He is believed to have suffered a heart attack for which he was being treated at the hospital. It is learnt that his condition suddenly turned critical leading to his demise.

Kurnool Godman Bala Sai Baba was born on January 14 1960 in Kurnool to Shri Kannanur Ramanadha Sastry and Smt. Jaya Lakshmamma, of a Brahmin Community of in Kurnool town. His father Dr. Ramanadha Sastry was an ayurvedic doctor who specialized in curing of snakebites and it is said that he also learnt ayurveda from his father.

He started his spiritual journey at the age of 18 and was known for his humanitarian work in Kurnool district.He first built his ashram on the banks of Tungabhadra next to the Shirdi Baba temple and started the 'Sri Balasai Baba Central Trust from where he conducted services for the disabled, eye camps, water projects and also ran a schools for girls .He was also appointed as Chancellor of Kalinga-University in Raipur Chatthisgarh in 2004.

The Godman was also known to court controversy and has several criminal cases and IT cases filed against him and his 'Sri Balasai Baba Central Trust . Some of the old locals in Kurnool say that he had also illegally occupied the land on the banks of Tungabhadra in Kurnool and built his ashram there.

In 2012 an amount of Rs6.70 crore was found in a three-wheeler and was seized by the police right in front of the DGP's office in Basheerbagh. The money was said to belonged to him and was supposed to be used for building another ashram either in Mysore or in Hyderabad as calaimed by his disciples.

Also Read: Rs 6.7 crore seized cash belongs to Balasai Baba?

Bala Sai also faced a case of embezzlement of Rs 44 lakh from a Kurnool trader Shiva Prasad, who filed a case in Kurnool court alleging that all three cheques of the trust bounced.

He is known to have many followers including Ministers, like Union Minister of State for Rural Development Ram Kripal Yadav, politicians and followers from all over the world. He is also know to have taken his name from the late Puttaparthi Sathya Sai Baba and came to be know as Bala Saibaba, Over the past 5 years he has been lying low and moving between his Kurnool ashram and the Hyderabad ashram in Gagan Mahal Hyderabad, coming out for an interview with the media occasionally, to stay in the lime light.