In my interactions with Vidya Vahini management, including --Name1-snipped--, in 2010 and 2011, I found they were decent people
Last updated on 23rd April 2020
23rd April 2020 Update: I had an inner urge to name-snip the names of some person(s) in this post and so have done so.
The local newspapers (Telugu) have reported that the police have questioned --Name1-snipped--, who is the director of the Vidya Vahini project, as well as some team members of Vidya Vahini. The news reports say that the (Puttaparthi Urban) police have stated that the lady gave up her life in a state of emotional distress. As per the news media reports, the police have also said that they will not allow any interference in this investigation. If I got it correctly, the police have also spoken to the parents of the deceased lady, and perhaps some of her other close relatives.
The (local Telugu) news media also published photographs of --Name1-snipped-- being questioned by top Puttaparthi police officers in what seems to be the Puttaparthi Urban police station.
Going by these news media reports, the impression that I have is that Puttaparthi police are doing their duty by investigating the case in a normal way.
Very unfortunately, some social media posts have maligned brother --Name1-snipped-- without evidence to back up their statements. So I felt it appropriate to share my view of --Name1-snipped-- and a few other members of the Vidya Vahini team when I interacted with them in 2010 and 2011 as a (free service) teacher in the Sai university with designation of Visiting Faculty.
I found --Name1-snipped--'s interactions with me to be polite and friendly. I did not experience any (super) form boy arrogance from him. The other members of Vidya Vahini that I interacted with were also quite polite and friendly. There were some issues I had with data that I needed from them which was not forthcoming but that was a normal kind of thing in such projects. The main thing was that the team, which includes a former student whom I have taught lab. courses, did not show, at least to me, any arrogance or harassment type of behaviour.
Now I don't know what exactly transpired between the deceased lady and --Name1-snipped-- and perhaps others in the Vidya Vahini top management team, in the course of their work in Vidya Vahini project now in 2017. That will have to be assessed by the investigators. But it is not as if that --Name1-snipped-- acted in an arrogant way in the Vidya Vahini project right from the beginning. NO! I did not see any such behaviour in the couple of Vidya Vahini meetings I attended where --Name1-snipped-- was playing a lead role, one visit from --Name1-snipped-- to talk to students of my lab. course about Vidya Vahini in Prasanthi Nilayam campus of the Sai university, and some emails I had exchanged with him on general spiritual stuff and some other general stuff.
To conclude, I would like to rebut the view being put out in some social media posts that try to paint --Name1-snipped-- in a bad light from the past without supporting evidence, at this very difficult and challenging time for him, by saying that in my experience of interacting with --Name1-snipped-- especially on Vidya Vahini in 2010 and 2011, he always behaved like a decent guy.
I wish --Name1-snipped-- all the best at this difficult and challenging time for him. I also hope that justice will be done in a fair and balanced way in this matter by Puttaparthi police and any related law enforcement/judicial agencies, as that will be a primary interest of not only the family and friends of the deceased lady, but Puttaparthi community in general. I pray to Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba to give strength and courage to all the persons who have been caught up in this tragic matter.
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This is my Facebook post associated with this blog post:
https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/1920150704868164, which has some comment exchanges.
Some of my comments from this Facebook post are given below:
You are entitled to your view --name-snipped--. As a social media writer I felt it appropriate to inform interested readers about what happened in a fair and balanced way and also express my views about --Name1-snipped--.
When I became a victim of gross power abuse in the Sai university after Mahasamadhi from multiple Sai university administrators, very few people expressed their support to me, (and that too) privately. Most of my colleagues preferred to look the other way!!! I know how much that hurt me. The lady who committed suicide is also a human being. She has parents and other loved ones. It is very fitting that the police investigate the matter including questioning --Name1-snipped-- as he is the head of Vidya Vahini, and the lady seems to have had emotional distress issues with her work in Vidya Vahini which led to her committing suicide in Vidya Vahini office in Prasanthi Nilayam.
As a victim of gross power abuse by Sai university administrators who got away with their power abuse as they seem to have powerful protectors, it is important for me NOT to ignore the lady's suicide and try to sweep it under the carpet. But I also don't support any malicious campaign to target --Name1-snipped--. It should be a fair and balanced investigation by the police, and I get the impression that it is so, as of now at least.
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Please note that, to my surprise, I have found that quite a few local Telugu people in Puttaparthi who are not fluent in English, follow my Facebook posts on such matters dealing with Puttaparthi. So I have to worry about them due to their lack of English fluency, misunderstanding some comments, and then sharing that misunderstood view with others in Puttaparthi!!! Such is life!!! --name-snipped--
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