Editing Sathya Sai Baba (section)

=== Accusations ===
Accusations<!-- Please do not change this wording, this has been agreed on the talk page. If you don't agree on it read the discussion there. --> against Sathya Sai Baba by his critics over the years have included sleight of hand, sexual abuse, money laundering, fraud in the performance of service projects, and murder.<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk"/><ref name=Palmer116/>

In 1972, Abraham Kovoor made the first public criticism of Sathya Sai Baba<ref name="srisathyasaibabaandthepress">Ruhela S.P., ''Sri Sathya Sai Baba and the Press'', pp. 1–5, 1997 {{ISBN|8175330414}}</ref> when he looked into a claim publicly narrated by one devotee<ref name="srisathyasaibabaandthepress" /> that Sai Baba had created a new model of a [[Seiko]] watch, and found the claim to be untrue.<ref name="sathyasaibabasgrace">Ruhela S.P., ''How to Receive Sri Sathya Sai Baba's Grace'', pp. 277, 2006 {{ISBN|8171820891}}</ref><ref name=OutlookSingh>{{Cite web|title=The Spell Breaker|url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?262445|publisher=Outlook|access-date=16 October 2013|author=Rahul Singh|date=2 November 2009}}</ref>

In April 1976, Hossur Narasimhaiah, a [[physicist]], [[rationalist]] and then [[vice-chancellor]] of [[Bangalore University]], founded and chaired a committee "to rationally and scientifically investigate miracles and other verifiable superstitions". Narasimhaiah wrote Sai Baba three widely publicised letters challenging him to perform his miracles under controlled conditions. The letters were ignored.<ref name="haraldsson204">Haraldson, ''op. cit'', pp&nbsp;204–205</ref> Sathya Sai Baba said that he ignored Narasimhaiah's challenge because he felt that a scientific approach to spiritual issues was improper, adding that "Science must confine its inquiry only to things belonging to the human senses, while [[Spiritualism (philosophy)|spiritualism]] transcends the senses. If you want to understand the nature of spiritual power you can do so only through the path of spirituality and not science. What science has been able to unravel is merely a fraction of the cosmic phenomena..."<ref name="blitz">Interview given by Sai Baba to [[R. K. Karanjia]] of ''Blitz'' news magazine in September 1976 [http://www.saibaba.ws/articles/interviewwithjournalistsept1976.htm Available online]</ref> Narasimhaiah's committee was dissolved in August 1977. Narasimhaiah held the fact that Sai Baba ignored his letters to be an indication that his miracles were fraudulent.<ref>Haraldsson, pp 209</ref> As a result of this episode, a [[public debate]] raged for several months in Indian newspapers.<ref>Haraldsson, ''op. cit.'', pp. 206</ref>

Indian rationalist [[Basava Premanand]], who began campaigning against Sathya Sai Baba in 1976, unsuccessfully attempted to sue him in 1986 for violations of the [[Gold Control Act]], citing Sai Baba was "producing gold necklaces out of thin air without the permission of a Gold Control Administrator".<ref name=bbca1/> When the case was dismissed, Premanand unsuccessfully appealed on the grounds that claimed spiritual power is not a defence recognised in law.<ref name=bbca1>{{Cite news|author=Tanya Datta|title=Sai Baba: Goan or con man?|date=17 June 2004|publisher=[[BBC News]] |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/this_world/3813469.stm | access-date=4 January 2010}}</ref>

In the early 1990s, the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] created a secret report that stated the Sai Baba movement is “likely to eventually become another worldwide religion”.<ref name="saicia"/><ref name="saioncia"/> The CIA operative who wrote the report concluded it by stating, “there is always the possibility, too, that the movement will collapse if Sai Baba is convincingly demonstrated to be a fraud.”<ref name="saicia"/><ref name="saioncia"/>

A 1995 TV documentary ''Guru Busters'', produced by filmmaker Robert Eagle for the UK's [[Channel 4]], accused Sai Baba of faking his materializations.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.eagletv.co.uk/projects/guru-busters.html |title=Eagle & Eagle |publisher=Eagletv.co.uk |access-date=7 January 2010}} [https://vimeo.com/352879776 Doordarshan clip]</ref> The clip from the film was mentioned in the ''[[Deccan Chronicle]]'', on 23 November 1992, in a front-page headline "DD Tape Unveils Baba Magic".<ref>Haraldsson, ''op. cit.'', pp.&nbsp;295–301</ref>

Claims of Sai Baba resurrecting American devotee Walter Cowan in 1971 have been discussed by British journalist Mick Brown in his book ''The Spiritual Tourist'' from 1998,<ref name="spiritualtourist">Mick Brown, ''The Spiritual Tourist'', 1998, Bloomsbury Publishing, {{ISBN|158234034X}} "In the House of God", pp.&nbsp;73–74</ref><ref>Hislop, John S. ''My Baba and I'' 1985 published by Birth Day Publishing Company, San Diego, California {{ISBN|0960095888}}, "The Resurrection of Walter Cowan", pages&nbsp;28–31</ref>  and subsequently by [[Erlendur Haraldsson]], who interviewed doctors attending Cowan at the hospital; these physicians reported that Cowan had been dangerously ill but had not died.<ref name="lane2014">{{Cite book |last1=Lane |first1=David |author1-link=David C. Lane |title=The Mystical: Exploring the Transcendent |date=2014 |publisher=Mt San Antonio College |isbn=978-1565431737 |pages=62–63}}</ref>

Brown also related his experiences with alleged manifestations of vibhuti (sacred ash) from Sai Baba's pictures in houses in London, which he felt were not fraudulent or the result of trickery.<ref name="touristmiracle">Brown Mick, ''The Spiritual Tourist'', "The Miracle in North London", pp.&nbsp;29–30, 1998 {{ISBN|158234034X}}</ref> With regards to Sai Baba's claims of omniscience, Brown wrote, "sceptics have produced documentation clearly showing discrepancies between Baba's reading of historical events and biblical prophecies, and the established accounts."<ref name="spiritualtourist"/>

The ''[[Vancouver Sun]]'' in 2001 reported that Sai Baba told his adherents not to sign on to the internet,<ref name="VS">{{Cite web|url=https://vancouversun.com/news/staff-blogs/sai-baba-holy-man-sex-abuser-both|title=Sai Baba: Holy man? Sex abuser? Both?|work=vancouversun |date=26 April 2011|language=en|access-date=9 October 2019}}</ref> while encouraging them, rather, to surf the "inner net".<ref name="itallege">{{Cite news | title =Allegations of sexual molestation continue to dog Sai Baba| newspaper=[[India Today]]| date = 4 December 2000 | url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/20001204-allegations-of-sexual-molestation-continue-to-dog-sai-baba-778528-2000-12-03|access-date =26 November 2012}}</ref>