Anantapur, April 04: Anxiety was writ large on the faces of every one in the pilgrim town of Puttaparthy on Sunday. People were seen gathering in small groups at all places, discussing in low voices, the health of Satya Sai Baba, the spiritual guru for millions, who was admitted to hospital on March 28, after he fell ill.
The shops which normally teem with visitors, including those from abroad, wore a deserted look, while an uneasy calm was perceptible all over the town, with none providing accurate information on the condition of Satya Sai Baba.
People from surrounding villages also started arriving at Puttaparthy to personally enquire about Baba’s health. With unconfirmed reports doing rounds, some devotees were seen saying that surgery was also performed on Baba while some openly expressed doubts on the genuineness of the reports being released by the Satya Sai Trust and the Sai Baba Superspecialty hospital doctors on the health of Baba, adding more to the confused atmosphere in the town.
Some people even went to the extent of spreading rumours that Baba is no more, while some said that the members of Satya Sai Baba Trust were providing only filtered news, not giving the correct picture of Baba’s present condition. Police posted at the hospital were not allowing anyone inside.
Trust members and the police were having a tough time convincing the people, steadily arriving at the hospital, to go back.
The foreign devotees who normally fleet around with a beaming face, were also seen moving despondently, as they were not able to know about Sai Baba condition.
Meanwhile, DGP K Aravinda Rao visited Puttaparthy today and reviewed the situation, before leaving for Hyderabad via Bangalore.
Security has been beefed up in the town. Armed gunmen were provided as security to the Satya Sai Baba Trust members.
None was allowed into the superspeciality hospital where Baba is undergoing treatment. Even his close relatives were first denied entry but were allowed later after they protested.
A close relative of Baba had even tried to manhandle the trust members when they obstructed him from going into the hospital. Baba’s relatives grilled the trust members why they were not informed about the illhealth of Baba though he has been unwell for a month.
–Agencies