A lot of gossip is doing the rounds in the media over the death of Kaleshwar Baba and about the fate of his sprawling ashram in Penukonda and properties in various places.
The feud within the family and the trust seems to have aided the rumour mills getting into an overdrive. Besides, the death of Kaleshwar at such an young age which led to lot of speculation, refused to die down despite the hospital reports.
Kaleshwar’s health had been deteriorating for some time now, but what is surprising is that he did not make any attempt to get the best of treatment which he could afford. Neither the family members nor the trust members seem to have done anything to take care of his worsening condition.
Unconfirmed reports say that Kaleshwar was under tremendous psychological pressure because of the lack of harmony within the family. Belonging to the fishermen community, Kaleshwar married a Reddy girl, said to be the daughter of a devotee. He had a young daughter Navyasri with wife Shilpa. Neelakanta, the popular film director, is Shilpa’s uncle – her father’s younger brother.
The dominance of his wife and relatives meant that he could not maintain good relations with his own family, mainly his parents with whom he had some attachment. They were living in Kadapa, despite his son’s rise as a guru in Penukonda in Ananatapur.
The trust members, among whom Nagireddy is said to be very prominent, also allegedly made his life miserable with internal bickering over financial matters. It is in this background that Kaleshwar was depressed for some time now. Allegations of his being drugged by his trusted men recently have also surfaced recently in Penukonda.
The surfeit of Telugu news channels also contributed to make Kaleshwar’s life miserable. When a couple of channels only were in existence, he is said to have pampered them with regular pay offs. But later, when too many channels started airing, he was always being blackmailed, which resulted in raids by police and revenue officials on various allegations. Kaleshwar was also known for pampering local government officials from various departments, who enjoyed his hospitality at every opportunity.
The interest in Kaleshwar’s properties is widespread within the district. Many public personalities who came for the last rites of the Baba at Penukonda, including Minister Raghuveera Reddy, TDP MP Nimmala Kistappa, Jagan MLA who recently was disqualified Kapu Ramachandra Reddy, Congress Party’s J C Divakara Reddy, Penukonda MLA B K Parthasaradhi, Puttaparthi MLA P Raghunatha Reddy have a degree of interest in his affairs.
Local reports said that a whole bunch of officials from the police and the revenue who had worked earlier in Penukonda rushed to the ashram after the news spread. Their unusual interest is being attributed to their knowledge of Kaleshwar’s known and unknown assets.
Kaleshwar reportedly has lot of real estate interest in Penukonda, Bangalore, Chennai, Kadapa and Chittoor districts. There is no authentic information on the worth of these properties, though the valuation of these properties is being put at Rs 700 crore by the locals.
The fact that Kaleshwar recently started work on a500-bedded super-specialty hospital near Penukonda at a cost of Rs 100 crore suggests that he had enough resources to fund the project.
Relations on Shilpa’s side and Kaleshawar’s side were locked over the properties immediately after the death, but an influential political personality brought temporary truce between the two sides. An agreement was apparently reached that the politician would mediate in the issue once the funeral was over.
His diseased brother Kali Prasad’s first wife Manjula Vani has already claimed a share in his properties. However, Kaleshwar’s father Subbarayudu claimed that he got his son married to Jayaprada and that Manjula had nothing to with the family.
While many TDP MLAs in the district had been reportedly helped by him in 2009 elections, it is a Minister from the district who has been taking interest in the affairs of the ashram for some time now.
It is to be seen how the affairs of the Kaleshwar’s ashram will play out, especially with regard to his properties, because his spiritual legacy is said to be next to nil in the area. The entire ashram is presently deserted except for the family members and some officials.
