It is just a temple for Sai Baba where I have also put idols of other gods,” he said.

Apart from Shankaracharya or saffron brigade, he keeps getting threats from Muslims for running a temple. “I do get calls warning me of dire consequences, some even abuse me, but I am not afraid,” he said. Nor have the many “threat calls” deterred him. The recent row over removing Sai Baba idol has not affected Shaikh a bit. AMC officials, on their part, say the dispute is yet to be decided in court and that till then there will be no action. He has the documents which he produced in court. The land was purchased by his father in his name in 1963. Shaikh says that he had taken AMC to court in 1995 for land-grabbing. “Removal is not possible because the place is a private land owned by me and secondly it is a temple which is not built on illegally possessed land, but on my own land,” he says. “The AMC had planned the demolition of the temple to displace me, but after I showed the proof of ownership from the revenue records, they no longer come to trouble me,” he says, showing copies of ownership records.

“Of course, all trustees will be my family members,” he clarifies. He plans to form a trust to run the temple on “scientific basis”. He says the temple has saved his land from being vacated by AMC which wanted to bulldoze the structure that housed a music cassette and CD shop that he ran earlier. Shaikh, a Class V pass, displays keen business sense behind the temple. Buy 2-year plan with SD20 code for special price

Sai baba shirdi mandir