Yajur mandir resembled Tirupati temple hundi

While the 20-member team scanned the entire two-storied Yajur Mandir for nearly 36 hours, nothing much emerged from the various documents which were found inside the private chambers of Sai Baba on Friday.

Sources said the Yajur Mandir resembled the `hundi' of Lord Venkateswara of Tirumala as a massive cash of Rs 11,56,47,049.50 was found along with 98 kgs of gold jewellery and 307 kgs of silver ornaments inside the three-room mandir.

While it was for the first time that the powerful Sathya Sai Central Trust members had stepped inside the holy mandir of Baba on the first floor, sources said there was not much grandeur inside. It was constructed in 2001 by L&T. The ground floor has one visitors' hall, followed by a hall, dining hall and a kitchen. It has two separate rooms.

On the first floor, there are three rooms. A hall, a room and the resting room of Baba. "Even the entry of VVIPs and important dignitaries to the first floor was restricted when Baba was alive," sources revealed. The Trust members and VIP devotees used to wait on the ground floor to meet Baba, who used to come down from his abode in the first floor.

Baba used to sleep on the silver cot embellished with gold ornaments. The plates, glasses and other articles used by him were also made of gold and silver. "Only a few of the high-profile devotees had an opportunity to have dinner with Baba. Baba used to come down by using a lift," insiders told TOI.

In the mandir, Baba used to allow only his caregiver Satyajit along with 2-3 `favourite' students to serve him. "Even Baba's nephew R J Rathnakar was allowed only a few times inside the first floor of Yajur Mandir," ashram sources said.

During the time when Baba fell sick and was shifted to the super speciality hospital, several eyebrows were raised over the cash and gold stocks. Generally, Baba used to personally inspect all the letters, gifts and donations given his devotees. Several foreign devotees used to donate boxes of sweets, chocolates and other eatables to Baba.

Sources said Baba used to write his comments on the number of applications and pleas from devotees. "He used to take the help of MBA students from his own institute of higher learning to crosscheck all the accounts related to the Sai Central Trust maintenance," an insider in the ashram revealed.

For instance, after he came across the misuse of funds from the Eeswaramma Trust, he sacked a few members two years ago.