Commander Selvam of Atlanta: What Do You Think?

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[UPDATE: After arresting Commander Selvam last fall, the police have decided drop charges against him, for lack of evidence. See Atlanta Journal Constitution]

Reader MacWalla sent us a tip to this story, which ran on a local Fox affiliate in Atlanta:

It’s about an Atlanta based swami named Selvam Sidhar, also called Dr. Commander Selvam (though his real name is apparently Annamalai?), whom the reporter finds to be a fraud. There’s also a second part I would strongly recommend here, where the reporters went undercover to book a “beer bash and barbecue” in the Temple’s main hall, and Commander Selvam readily agreed to have meat and alcohol served on the premises. After the Fox reporters called the next day to “out” themselves, big banners reading “Hindus Only Allowed — No Trespassing” went up around the temple.

Some of the footage they use, showing his house (heavily mortgaged), and his car, isn’t by itself an issue for me. If anything, the $900,000 mortgage on the house suggests he doesn’t actually have as much money in the bank as might be expected. Is this exposé overblown at times?

Finally, the reporter responsible for the recent story on Fox Atlanta, Randy Travis, has a blog post up, with 179 comments on the story.

[UPDATE: After arresting Commander Selvam last fall, the police have decided drop charges against him, for lack of evidence. See Atlanta Journal Constitution]

89 thoughts on “Commander Selvam of Atlanta: What Do You Think?”

  1. 46 · louiecypher said

    But on the other hand one can argue, as in the case of Siberian shamans, that misdirection can be used to positive effect in healing etc.

    I find your faith in mysticism and shamans really quite touching for someone who goes on and on about the deleterious effect of morally relativistic arts graduates.

  2. This Commander Selvam seems to be an A-grade porukki kammanatti thazhi. Thanks are due to Fox5 for exposing this crook, charlatan, and mountebank. May the law pursue him with all speed and deliver him the justice he and his victims richly deserve.

    The problem of dubious gurus is timeless. We can only warn people against them, not protect them.

  3. 47 · Sufi said

    What is Afro baba’s return to charity on every rupee donated to him?
    Perhaps you hate Buddha for his tightly curled afro hair as well? And Rama and Krishna for their black skins? By the way, there are some who think that Jesus too may have had an afro, based on the depiction of him as having “wooly” hair and bronze feet in the Revelations part of the New Testament Bible.

    Talking about afros and dark-skin. This bastard Selvam has a deep rooted hatred for fair-skinned brahmins, wears a wig all the time. Wears a fake beard to escape recognition, and has tried to molest women who visit his funny looking temple. He has a real love for large breasted women. I guess he is not unique with that taste.

  4. what’s with the titles … Doctor Commander? makes him sound like the Surgeon General. I’m clueless when it comes to this stuff but is adding made up titles a common practice where this guy comes from? Wouldn’t that tip people off in the religious community?

  5. Breaking news… the websites associated to DrC and the Hindu Temple of Georgia are now down.

  6. That’s funny. It was up and running earlier this morning. I want to know who is that gurukkal or sivachari who was caught on video saying that it is OK to host a Beer BBQ session at the kovil. The look on the crook Selvam’s face when he says anything is OK is worth capturing. What namuneh these chors are. It looks like Fox5 was well briefed by the local Hindu community before they conducted the sting op. Few would have known how to target this fake commander. Good job. As always the media helps, and how!

  7. what’s with the titles … Doctor Commander? makes him sound like the Surgeon General. I’m clueless when it comes to this stuff but is adding made up titles a common practice where this guy comes from? Wouldn’t that tip people off in the religious community?

    Sunil: These kind of bogus honorifics are pretty typical of Tamil political parties. Jayalalitha has titles like “Revolutionary Leader & Doctor”

  8. I was afraid that he would do some tantri activities and seperate me with my husband. So, I didn’t tell this to anyone.

    I’m not making light of your experience, but do you really think it is possible for someone to use tantrik occult powers to separate a couple?

  9. 46 · louiecypher said But on the other hand one can argue, as in the case of Siberian shamans, that misdirection can be used to positive effect in healing etc. I find your faith in mysticism and shamans really quite touching for someone who goes on and on about the deleterious effect of morally relativistic arts graduates.

    Mola Ram: Shamans come with party favors like datura & ayahuasca and do their best for you in the absence of allopathic medicine. MFAs just mooch off of you and leave doofus size indentations in your futon. And they ridicule you for “not getting” Jackson Pollock. What was your point?

  10. Guruvey Saranam !!! Jai Jai Guru Saranam!!! Sri Sri Doctor Commander Selvam the REINCARNATION of Lord Shiva–the presiding deity of Atharva vedic practices is a Holy person who got superior powers than usual human beings.

    By using his super power, Sri Sri Selvam Guruji does infinite holy services for the welfare of this Human community in this universe. In brief Sri Sri Dr Selvam can be called as Universal Maharishi who is doing the valuable Humanity Service with out expecting any fringe benefits for his own.

    Sri Sri Dr Selvam, was a commander in the Tamil Nadu Crime branch division, it will be evident that when you are about to visit treasury of Police Commanders in Chennai(INDIA). He left the country to USA with the only strong motto of serving the Human Society as God’s Ambassador and he is doing now.

    Who is he?? What is the need and purpose for him to cheat the Humans?? Whats the need for him to Fly from India to USA???

    The only goal and objective is Humanity Service globally to be rendered. He was nurtured at the child level with the tantras and Vedic concepts at good level and able to preach the facts and figures and also Astrology predictions made.

    Commander Dr Sri Sri Selvam was a peace hearted and love and affectionate and caring hearted person who avthared in this world to serve everyone. Its good for those who got their clean and mind at good pace. Obviously it will be wrong for those minds and eyes are not clear much.

  11. hmmm….prev poster is a very clever troll, i think. so watch out before responding y’all.

  12. The Tamil language biweekly, Nakkheeran (www.nakkheeran.com) has picked up the story. The Thursday, Aug. 7th edition of Nakkheeran blares “The Tamil Swamiji who runs a night club in America” on top of a picture of a couple kissing passionately & a party-scene picture at the ‘temple’. 4 pages have been allotted to the story that features sub-stories about the priests’ illtreatement by Annamalai, his wife and chief priest L.V.Sharma.

    Nakkheeran is a bold, in-your-face, sometimes-controversial, no-nonsense magazine read by a wide cross-section of the Tamil population.

    It may be interest to note that Annmalai’s crooks in Coimbatore threatened (assault), cajoled, attempted to bribe, and threatened (murder) the Nakkheeran reporter, who was unfazed and went ahead with the story.

    We have the 5-page article + pictures of road-side stalls with banners about this story, and will be happy to share them with interested bloggers. Just email me at valmikipr@yahoo.com with subject line – ‘Fraud Annamalai’.

  13. That is one passive aggressive goonda:

    threatened (assault), cajoled, attempted to bribe, and threatened (murder)

  14. 61 · louiecypher said

    Mola Ram: Shamans come with party favors like datura & ayahuasca and do their best for you in the absence of allopathic medicine. MFAs just mooch off of you and leave doofus size indentations in your futon. And they ridicule you for “not getting” Jackson Pollock.

    I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to insult the fact that shamanic mumbo-jumbo helps you to take comfort in dried tiger penis, or powdered rhino horn, or “herbal supplements”. Side effects clearly include irrationality and a persecution complex, it seems.

  15. I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to insult the fact that shamanic mumbo-jumbo helps you to take comfort in dried tiger penis, or powdered rhino horn, or “herbal supplements”. Side effects clearly include irrationality and a persecution complex, it seems.

    Tiger penis?! Man you are a Rick James old school superfreak. I said shamans can be of use in the absence of modern medicine but Mola Ram jumps the shark and is all like “Damn, screw allopathy & Viagra and gimme some o dat tiger dong”. You sound like an unhappy ex-customer “Man I went all the way to Chinatown, risked getting shot by customs officers and you don’t have the decency to stand up”. Not surprising though, scratch a fundamentalist atheist (e.g. Shermer) and you’ll find a disillusioned ex-Bible Thumper. And chill, I just like goofing on MFAs. It’s a schtick…just ignore me for a while and I’ll find a new one.

  16. it’s just the narratives of these miracles that make me skeptical…especially when stage magicians (and not physical reductionist ideologues like the “Amazing Randi”) picked out the conjuring trick the first time they viewed the videos.

    What is your issue with “miracles” per se, considering you are not an atheist-materialist (correct me if you are)? Magicians did not “pick out the conjuring trick”. You are jumping to lazy conclusions because your mind is closed and already made up. A couple indian magicians have tried to duplicate the most common of his materializations, that of vibhuti, using sleight of hand and ash modified with starch. That cannot be considered a true replication. The ash that Sai Baba materializes comes warm, perfumed, powdery and without starch. He has materialized literally tons of vibhuti starting at a very young age before thousands of intently observing eyes literally inches from his hands. And that is just the most commonplace object that he has been observed materializing, by some of the most intelligent and successful people around, of all races and religious backgrounds. Sai Baba must be the greatest magician in the history of mankind to have fooled so many intelligent people observing him in such close quarters for such a long period of time. But ask yourself this: what magician gives away the precious jewelry he seems to materialize out of thin air? what magician can materialize objects on demand at the spur of the moment?

    http://www.indian-skeptic.org/html/is_v01/1-3-4.htm

    [Ed. note: more at above link…please don’t leave comments which are so long, they could be an entire blog post of their own, especially when it’s mostly reprinting other material. Comments like that are especially difficult or annoying on mobile phones, thanks.]

  17. If Commander is an astrologer doing business with the gods, didn’t he this one coming? maybe his angels are on va-cay.

  18. If Sai Baba is so powerful, then how come he can’t cure cancer like Chuck Norris’ tears can?

  19. Hi guys! Keep the focus on this hocus pocus scamiji – Dr. Commander Selvam Siddhar Swamiji His Holiness Sri Sri Sri Maharishi …..

  20. 69 · Sufi said

    Among other things produced were Indian sweets and foods cooked in butter, which would certainly soil anything they contacted.

    So did PC Sorcar. Sai Baba devotees are sensitive to the ‘Afro-haired conjuror’ sneer. Over a decade ago, the magician PC Sorcar was refused entry into Sai Baba’s presence. He went under a false name and when the Baba miraculously produced a sandesh, Sorcar returned the compliment by miraculously producing a rasgulla. The Baba began shouting and Sorcar was physically evicted from the ashram. The magician wrote about the encounter in Sunday magazine. But since then, he has come under so much pressure from the Sai Baba lobby that he’s reluctant to repeat the experience. No matter. There are enough people who can do the same tricks. Sanal Edamaraku of the Indian Rationalist Association, who does not even claim to be a magician, will cheerfully reproduce any of the old boy’s ‘miracles’ on demand.

  21. The Commander seemed more interested in the tantric cumcumber disappearing trick than the materialization of lymph node Swiss time pieces & musky mithai.

  22. Aside from Sorcar, there was examination by other Western stage magicians who also came to the same conclusion…that it was fake. Lot’s of smart Victorian scientists were fooled by Spiritualist huxsters. Some Stanford Research Institute (SRI) scientists were fooled by Uri Geller’s spoon bending. People see what they want/need to see. I am not a materialist, but am a naturalist from an operational perspective. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Claims of Macro Pk always fall apart in the lab

  23. Over a decade ago, the magician PC Sorcar was refused entry into Sai Baba’s presence. He went under a false name and when the Baba miraculously produced a sandesh, Sorcar returned the compliment by miraculously producing a rasgulla. The Baba began shouting and Sorcar was physically evicted from the ashram. The magician wrote about the encounter in Sunday magazine.

    You have blindly taken at face value the words of a man who makes a living deceiving people. How pitifully gullible 🙂 Can Sorcar provide witnesses to this event? Why do you find this more credible than the testimony of numerous witnesses (of the highest calibre) of Sai Baba’s supernatural powers?

    But since then, he has come under so much pressure from the Sai Baba lobby that he’s reluctant to repeat the experience.

    Lol; but of course. Could it be that he is “reluctant to repeat the experience” because he does not think he could pull it off convincingly and his big fat lie of upstaging Sai Baba will be exposed? No amount of imaginary “pressure from the Sai Baba lobby” has prevented the “rationalist” Premanand from attempting to duplicate in front of cameras Sai Baba’s vibhuti manifestations. So what exactly is the reason for Sorcar’s unwillingness to repeat the magical materialization of rasgullas?

  24. Sufi: This is the most hilarious windup ever. I thought you were serious until you brought up

    magical materialization of rasgullas

    . That was a bit over the top, but it was fun while it lasted

  27. Ah… spoke too soon. DrC’s websites are back up now. I’m guessing that they suddenly were deluged with traffic after the FOX report came out.

    Does anyone know if the Nakkheeran article has been posted anywhere (in English)?

  29. A very good friend of mine was responsible for driving this person from the Los Angeles area temple, where he had set up shop, taking advantage of people for a long time. It seems he went all the way to Atlanta to try and reinvent himself, where no one would remember his bullsh*t ways. Glad he got his come-uppance.

  30. FHM! Can you ask your LA friend to contact me (valmikipr@yahoo.com), please? I am part of the group that is working to rid Atlanta of this menace, and would like to check notes with the one who succeeded in this mission in LA. Thanks.

  31. Keep wondering how people give thousands of $$$ to these fakes while when it comes to a needy person or genuine cause,they ask thousand questions.

  34. I live in San Jose , CA , and a frequent visitor to the Hindu temple, located at the Persian Drive , Sunnyvale , CA. Commander Selvam about 3 years back used to run a stall of religious artifacts, talismans, etc. From personal experience he would catch people nearby the stall with ice breakers such as Om Namashivaya, then claim he is a divine messenger sent to heal people and improve their lives, profess his talents in warding off evil spirits, and making tall claims in general and coaxing people to buy cheap artifacts for as much as $500 – $2000.

    He accosted me once, and tried to sell some talisman, I did not seem to fall prey to his claims, then he threatened me with unleashing his powers in sorcery and magic to my detriment. Needless to say this caused me much consternation and mental affliction.

    Later I exchanged notes with a couple of people who seemed to have seen through this criminal, and allayed my fears. Since many people reported to the Hindu Temple of Sunnyvale , CA , that this person is disturbing the peace in the temple, and harassing people to cough up money and making tall deceptive claims about his contributions to Hindu Charity (he claimed to one person that he donates $10,000 a month to the Hindu temple at Sunnyvale , CA ), this guy was kicked out Sunnyvale Hindu temple in CA.

    We need to come together and combine our efforts to put this offender behind bars. This is USA not a lawless land. We citizens of USA have a responsibility to keep the society unharmed from offenders. And the only way to achieve that is by putting the low lives behind bars.

    Your effort and involvement in this affair is gratefully acknowledged.

  35. 85 · Krishnan Subramaniam said

    I live in San Jose , CA , and a frequent visitor to the Hindu temple, located atthe Persian Drive , Sunnyvale , CA. Commander Selvam about 3 years backused to run a stall of religious artifacts, talismans, etc. From personal experiencehe would catch people nearby the stall with ice breakers such as Om Namashivaya,then claim he is a divine messenger sent to heal people and improve their lives,profess his talents in warding off evil spirits, and making tall claims in generaland coaxing people to buy cheap artifacts for as much as $500 – $2000. He accosted me once, and tried to sell some talisman, I did not seem to fallprey to his claims, then he threatened me with unleashing his powers in sorceryand magic to my detriment. Needless to say this caused me much consternationand mental affliction. Later I exchanged notes with a couple of people who seemed to have seen throughthis criminal, and allayed my fears. Since many people reported to the Hindu Templeof Sunnyvale , CA , that this person is disturbing the peace in the temple, andharassing people to cough up money and making tall deceptive claims abouthis contributions to Hindu Charity (he claimed to one person that he donates$10,000 a month to the Hindu temple at Sunnyvale , CA ), this guy was kicked outSunnyvale Hindu temple in CA. We need to come together and combine our efforts to put this offender behind bars.This is USA not a lawless land. We citizens of USA have a responsibility tokeep the society unharmed from offenders. And the only way to achieve thatis by putting the low lives behind bars. Your effort and involvement in this affair is gratefully acknowledged.

    Krishnan: This is unfortunate and I am not making fun of your situation, but there will always be frauds. The best protection is critical thinking and operational rationalism/naturalism (which I contrast with dogmatic rationalism/materialism). I don’t think people can be fully protected by the law..and maybe they shouldn’t be as it might eventually be used against any kind of unverifiable religious claim. You say :

    I did not seem to fallprey to his claims

    and then in apparent contradiction:

    he threatened me with unleashing his powers in sorcery and magic to my detriment. Needless to say this caused me much consternation and mental affliction.

    I don’t say this to make fun of you, I have friends who are twice as smart as me who fall prey to similar scams. I do hope the temple exercises more control over who they associate with in the future

  36. Krishnan Subramaniam : If you ever came back to this site and read this comment,please do contact ValmikiPR so that all affected parties can come together to nail this con. Thanks

    //ValmikiPR on August 11, 2008 08:40 AM · Direct link · “Quote”(?) FHM! Can you ask your LA friend to contact me (valmikipr@yahoo.com), please? I am part of the group that is working to rid Atlanta of this menace, and would like to check notes with the one who succeeded in this mission in LA. Thanks.//

  37. I fell prey to him recently and encourage all victims to come forward and put an end to this guy.

  38. Hi Folks I hope you all believe in American Law; if any of the above statement is true Siddhar would have been to prison but Siddhar is continuing his normal life in Hindu Temple of Georgia giving his lectures to the people who really wished to follow. Please note that nobody was requested to come and listen his lectures, people are coming out of their interest.

    I would also like to clarify those critics who are shouting by holding a question “is Commander Selvam a God ?” Friends he is saying that “everyone can become god if they can realize in themselves” it can be Commander Selvam or administrator of this site. Please listen or read the statements completely then deliver you opinion on others.