"Nothing in SQL buffer to run." message on executing a shell script

I am running the following shell script which calls a .SQL file, that contains a list of DELETE statements. On executing ./delete_crr_input_purge.sh, I get the following message "Nothing in SQL buffer to run.". The .SQL file gets executed anyway but what is wrong with my code in the shell script?

#!/bin/ksh
#
# @(#)Copyright All Rights Reserved.
# @(#) $Id: run_drm_utility.sh $

# Setup common environment
. `dirname $0`/db_env.sh
cd `dirname $0`

echo "Enter the SHBA Atomic DB User Name:"
read USERNAME
echo "Enter the SHBA Atomic DB User Password:"
read PASS


cnt=`sqlplus -s /nolog <<-EOF
WHENEVER OSERROR EXIT 9;
WHENEVER SQLERROR EXIT SQL.SQLCODE;
connect $USERNAME/$PASS@$ORACLE_SID
SET PAGESIZE 0 FEEDBACK OFF VERIFY OFF HEADING OFF ECHO OFF
@delete_crr_input_purge.sql;
commit;

EOF`
echo [$cnt]

return $?




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