Rumour mills are working overtime in Puttaparthi. There is every indication that there is going to be a keen power tussle for the legacy of Sai Baba, which is estimated to be over Rs 40000 crore.
The man to watch out will be Satyajith, Baba's personal caregiver.
The rumour is that he has in his possession a will that names him as the person who will have absolute control over the trust.
Baba's nephew Ratnakar, a trustee who is also aspiring for control of the powerful body, is believed to have told his inner circle that the news is rubbish and that there is no such will and the future of the trust will be decided by all the trustees which will meet on Wednesday.
The Andhra Pradesh intelligence has now sounded an alert, stating that the life of Satyajith could be at risk and that he should be careful and make very less public appearances.
Intelligence sources say that anything can happen in issues like that of power transfer and each one will try to get the better of another since the issue is large and involves a huge empire.
Satyajith, who is being seen as the central character at the funeral, now will have additional security following the alert.
The news of Satyajith being in possession of a will first came out when some members close to him said he had mentioned the same to Geeta Reddy, a minister in the Andhra Pradesh government.
Satyajith is also reported to have said that he would open the will in the presence of legal advisors after Sathya Sai Baba's funeral on Wednesday.
As of now Satyajith is not part of the trust. It was only during his 85th birthday that the spiritual leader had mentioned that Satyajith should be given a prominent role in the trust.
Thirty-three-year-old Satyajith, who is said to have hailed from Mangalore, came to the Puttaparthi ashram at the age of 5. He studied all through at the ashram and even did his MBA from the Sathya Sai Institute of higher learning.
An ardent devotee of Sathya Sai Baba, he came into the big picture when the spiritual leader fractured his hip. Sathya Sai Baba had then chosen him personally to be his care giver.
Satyajith did not interact much with anyone and was confined to the services of Baba.
The only time when some news did come out about him was when a letter was circulated as to how he used to ill treat the servants in the ashram. Further, it is alleged that he had been administering sleeping tablets to Sathya Sai Baba.
The government of Andhra Pradesh is on the job and will try and get the top contenders to the post -- Satyajith and Ratnakar -- to agree to manage the affairs of the trust together.
