U.S. State Department Travel warning concerning Sathya Sai Baba

The text referring to Sathya Sai Baba in the Consular Sheet):-

"U.S. citizens should be aware that there have been reports of inappropriate sexual behavior by a prominent local religious leader at an ashram or religious retreat located in Andhra Pradesh. Most of the reports indicate that the subjects of these approaches have been young male devotees, including a number of U.S. citizens. Although these reports are unconfirmed, U.S. citizens should be aware of this information and contact the U.S. Consulate General in Chennai for further information."

Sathya Sai Baba cult defenders ran a massive disinformation and cover-up campaign which tried to distort key facts about the US State Department DIRECT warning about Sathya Sai Baba. They claimed that the State Department did not directly name Sai Baba - but this is not true, as was confirmed to the BBC presenter, Tanya Datta, in the 1 hour documentary 'The Secret Swami' when she contacted the U.S. Embassy in Delhi.

Excerpt from  the BBC documentary 'The Secret Swami' 
View the video clip (1.5 Mb)

Rranscript of the above report on investigations at the U.S. Embassy, Delhi:-
 
Tanya Datta: The American Government is also concerned. On the web site of the American Embassy in Delhi there's a warning to U.S. citizens visiting the State of Andhra Pradesh. It draws attention to a noted Godman who reportedlyindulges in inappropriate sexual behaviour with young male devotees.We contacted the U.S. Embassy in Delhi and they confirmed to us, and for the first time, that they are directly referring to Sai Baba.

The U.S. State Department does not issue warnings without having investigated the reasons most thoroughly. The State Department NEVER issued any formal withdrawal of the warning against Sai Baba, which would have also required them to make an apology for promoting false information. The chief argument of pro-Sai Baba defenders was that the warning was withdrawn. However, 'withdrawal' of a web page is not the same as withdrawal of the allegations already made by such responsible bodies, for no mention is made of refutation of the warnings, far from it.  The warning was withdrawn when it became outdated, no doubt due to Sai Baba's subsequent chronic invalidism and greatly reduced capacity to meet devotees in private or continue the named "inappropriate sexual behaviour" in private interviews.

The said web page did only make an 'indirect' reference to Sai Baba because no formal court order had been achieved against Sai Baba, so he could not be named for legal reasons only. The warning was made, did refer to him, as he was nevertheless named by US officials who were contactable.
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Excerpt of relevant passage from the travel advisory:-
U.S. Department of State
International Travel
Children & Family
India
May 20, 2004 

U.S. citizens should be aware that there have been reports of inappropriate sexual behavior by a prominent local religious leader at an ashram or religious retreat located in Andhra Pradesh. Most of the reports indicate that the subjects of these approaches have been young male devotees, including a number of U.S. citizens. Although these reports are unconfirmed, U.S. citizens should be aware of this information and contact the U.S. Consulate General in Chennai for further information.