It was not trusts money: Ratnakar

PUTTAPARTHI/HYDERABAD: RJ Ratnakar, Satya Sai Trust Board member, has reiterated that the Rs 35.5 lakh money seized by the police on Sunday last does not belong to the trust.Speaking to mediapersons after the police recorded his statement on Saturday, he said that the allegations against the trust werebaseless and that all the trust board members were doing selfless service. As far as he was concerned, he never considered himself as the nephew of Satya Sai Baba but was concerned more about the duties entrusted to him.Earlier, giving a new twist to the probe into the seizure of cash from Prashanthi Nilayam, Ratnakar is learnt to have told the police that he was ''partially aware'' of the money being carted out of the Sai Baba's Yajurveda Mandir.Ratnakar was grilled for over five hours by a team of police officials led by a DSP-rank officer at Prashanti Nilayam. Police officials led by Penukonda DSP Kolar Krishna and four other policemen arrived at Prashanti Nilayam around 2 pm after which Ratnakar joined them. They were closetted in N-7 block of Prashanti Nilayam till about 8.30 pm. The sleuths recorded Ratnakar's statement during the quizzing. Sources disclosed to Express that Ratnakar  told the police that he knew only ''partial details'' of the cash taken out of the mandir. ''He is not denying it completely,'' sources said, adding that Ratnakar's statement has not made the ''picture any clearer.'' He was asked about 80 questions and the entire proceedings were video-recorded. Sources said Ratnakar's statement will be matched with that of another trustee V Srinivasan which will be recorded on Monday. ''We will verify both statements and then arrive at a conclusion,'' police sources said. Police also grilled Venkatesh, personal secretary to Srinivasan. Emerging from N-7 block, Ratnakar left the place in a hurry.  His speeding car almost hit two mediapersons waiting at the west gate of Prashanti Nilayam. They suffered injuries.The Anantapur police sent a team to Bangalore to look for Sadashivan, who was reportedly summoned but did not turn up. His statement is to be recorded. Sadashivan is believed to be involved in the money transport along with Sohan Shetty and others.