Pressure is now mounting on the charity to break its links with the group whose followers are devoted to the preachings of 79-year-old holy man, Sai Baba.
About 200 young people will fly to India in two weeks' time on a humanitarian pilgrimage run by Sai Youth UK, a division of the Sri Sathya Sai Organisation. The teenagers and young men earn their Duke of Edinburgh awards for humanitarian work, chiefly distributing medical aid.
For decades male former devotees have alleged that the guru molested them during so-called "interviews".During the last youth pilgrimage, in 2004, young people were granted group interviews with the guru after administering medical aid to villages surrounding Sai Baba's ashram in Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh, although there was no evidence of abuse.
Sai Baba has never been charged over the sex abuse allegations. However, the US State Department issued a travel warning after reports of "inappropriate sexual behaviour by a prominent local religious leader" which, officials later confirmed was a reference to Sai Baba.
I met many followers of Sai Baba during my travels, and let's just say there's no smoke without fire.
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