While mystery shrouded Baba’s travels and acts outside the state, he vociferously denied all charges and asked the media houses to prove those. He also played the religion card, saying he is being targeted by his own Hindu brethren. “There is an attempt across the country to trap and malign religious people, particularly from Hindu religion,” he alleged.
“The Muslims and Sikhs never act against the people of their own community. They stand by each other in good and bad times. But, our Hindu people are easily motivated by false claims and negative campaign and act against each other,” he said.
“I never did anything wrong. I always tried to help my people. I am trying my best for Kendrapara as well as Odisha. The media must not target me like this. If you can’t do any good, just keep quiet, but never spread lies and false allegations against anyone. You are hurting the sentiments of lakhs of my devotees,” he added.
Sarathi further claimed that the pictures shown by the media houses were not from Hotel Golconda. “some of the pictures were from Hotel Crown in Allahabad, while others were from my college days. I used modern attire to escape the attention of people. But, I never stayed with any women as claimed by the media”, he clarified.
The BJD leaders, who were accused of patronizing Sarathi Baba and other Ministers and MLAs said that there should be a probe into all allegations and action must be taken against him if he is found guilty. However, some people asked the media not to sensationalize the issue, which would hurt the sentiments of many of his followers.
Meanwhile, a group of women activists created a ruckus outside the venue in Bhubaneswar where Sarathi Baba’s followers were holding a press meet. They were heckled by the women and later rescued by the cops. Massive protests, burning of effigies and damaging the properties of Sarathi Baba, were reported from Paradeep, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Angul, Sambalpur, Balasore and many other parts of Odisha.