COIMBATORE: An NRI whistle-blower, who first blew the lid on the fraud committed by Annamalai, who rechristened himself Sri Sri Selvam Siddhar and cheated his followers out of millions of dollars, has exposed how the “priests” who were taken to the USA to “spread the word” were also colluding with the Godman into bullying people that doubted and questioned Selvam’s credibility.
According to the whistle-blower, out of the more than 20 priests who were taken to the USA, less than five were “legitimate.” He said that Rajan Rameswaran, now working with Wipro in Chennai, and Saravanan Balasubramanian, were brought to Georgia for their knowledge of basic computer skills. He had used them in order to set up blogs and post derogatory content about the whistle-blower and also S V Muthukrishnan, whose testimony before the jury ultimately led to Selvam’s conviction. Alongside the two fake priests was Jayakumar Rathinam, who would post pictures of videos of Selvam on Youtube and help spread his messages of charlatan spiritualism.
Another person brought in as a priest, Kumar Chinnathambi, was a janitor who was also indicted by the Federal authorities and is awaiting trial in an American prison. Jayakumar Rathinam, who had managed to flee the country, despite being indicted is believed to be residing somewhere in Tamil Nadu.
According to the whistle-blower, Selvam, who himself was on a false Visa as an accountant, was charged by authorities in the state of California of child sex abuse. He then fled to Georgia and set up his “temple.” The man who exposed the phony godman told Express that he had first approached Annamalai, in order to lease Selvam’s auditorium to host Prema Pandurang, a well-known speaker on spirituality. After demanding and receiving 2,500 dollars in exchange for the use of the auditorium, Annamalai then insisted that he be allowed to address the public who gathered at the auditorium during Padurang’s visit. As he was refused, Annamalai switched off the air-conditioning, and other vital amenities at the hall during the five-day visit of Padurang.
The organiser demanded the money back but Selvam filed charges against the organiser claiming that the whistle-blower had threatened to blow up his temple, commit arson and murder his priests. “It was during this time that my suspicions grew strong. I dug deeper and learned that he was a fraud,” he told Express. Fox News was then tipped off about the activities of Selvam, who did an investigative piece and exposed him and his posse of priests’ fraudulent dealings.