Bengaluru’s Sai Baba temple trustees booked for allegedly denying wages to Dalit employee

A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against two members of the Sri Gajanana Seva Mandali Trust and four others in Bengaluru's RT Nagar after a complaint of caste-based discrimination made by an employee of a temple managed by the Trust. 

The trust manages the Shirdi Sai Baba Temple in RT Nagar, which is one of the oldest Sai Baba temples in Bengaluru. Sadashiva, 41, has worked as manager of the temple for the last 15 years. 

The complaint against the Trust officials was made by Sadashiva, stating that he had not been paid wages due to him for over a year.

Sadashiva said that he was discriminated against by members of the Trust during the allotment of a house belonging to the Trust.

Two members of the Trust, Ramamurthy and Ramesh K, and four others —  Vishwanatha, Bhaskar, Murali, Shankar — are named in the FIR. They have been booked under various Sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

“I am the manager of the trust and I have been denied my wages, even though I have continued working at this time. After this issue was not resolved for over a year, I decided to file a police complaint. I have been borrowing money from people for the past year,” Sadashiva told TNM. 

He alleged that he was denied a residence in the staff quarters built by the Trust. 

“I was also denied a staff quarters because of my Dalit identity. I was supposed to be allotted a staff quarters, but it was given to someone who is not an employee of the Trust,” Sadashiva said. 

RT Nagar police officials are currently investigating the allegations. An FIR was filed after repeated complaints were made at the police station. 

“The temple Trust members were urging Sadashiva to leave his job by denying him wages and a staff quarters. He is facing an issue of his house flooding in his current accommodation, which was allotted by a former Trust official,” Mariswamy, a Dalit activist said. He added that temple officials were threatening Sadashiva to leave his job immediately.