By Selina Lum

THE younger sister of Madam Amutha Valli Krishnan, testifying for the people her sister has sued, on Thursday said she believed her sister's claims were untrue, but she still loved her.

Madam Santha Krishnan, 48, gave an account of Madam Valli's history going into peculiar trances from her teenage years. She spoke of their stormy relationship, listing a litany of instances in which Madam Valli had treated her badly.

The sisters have not spoken to each other in 14 years. Before they severed ties in 1994, she said that Madam Valli had talked about a plan to use a mental illness to get $200,000.

Madam Santha came forward to testify for the defendants after reading a newspaper report about the lawsuit last year ? she was convinced that Madam Valli had pulled off a fake trance.

'I have known her to be a money-minded person and feel that she is bringing this action against the church and other defendants for money', she said in her affidavit.

Madam Santha said her sister can speak in a man's voice and go into a trance at will, or act as if she was in one. She first saw Madam Valli, then 18, go into a trance at home ? hissing, slithering like a snake on the floor and asking for milk and eggs.

Over the years, whenever she argued with their father, Madam Valli would go into a trance. She described her relationship with Madam Valli as close but tumultous.

Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times.