The Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the Dharmasthala case, resumed search operations on Wednesday, September 17, at the Banglegudde forest area near the Nethravathi bathing ghat.
The development comes after a skull, reportedly collected from the same forest area, was handed over to the police by a complainant witness. Earlier, Sowjanya’s uncle, Vittal Gowda, had shown the site to the SIT, which carried out a mahazar in the Belthangady forest range on September 12. Local TV channels reported that the SIT found multiple human remains in the area on Wednesday, though the SIT has not issued any statement
Following the mahazar, a video of Vittal Gowda went viral on social media, where he claimed to have seen multiple skeletons. “When I was taken for spot mahazar twice at Banglegudde, human skeletal remains belonging to three persons were found within a 10 ft area. In the second spot, there were multiple human remains, and I could see at least five human remains. I suspect there were also bones belonging to a child,” he alleged in the video.
On Wednesday, SIT officers, forest officials, forensic science experts, Scene of Crime Officers (SOCO), Revenue Department staff and workers combed the forest area. SIT officials Jitendra Kumar Dayama and CA Simon supervised the operation on the ground.