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The investigation into the alleged mass burials in Dharmasthala has now become the centre of a political storm in Karnataka. While the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has so far recovered human skeletal remains at two locations, the opposition BJP has turned its focus on the Congress government, accusing it of failing to stop what it calls a “smear campaign” against the Dharmasthala Manjunatha temple and its administrators.
On Sunday, August 17, Karnataka BJP president BY Vijayendra, along with a large team of party leaders, visited the temple town, met Dharmadhikari D Veerendra Heggade, and demanded that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah apologise for allowing the controversy to spiral. The party has also announced further protests, saying the faith of lakhs of devotees is being “targeted for political reasons.”
For the Congress government, the challenge is twofold: on one hand, it is defending the credibility of the SIT probe, and on the other, it is reassuring the temple’s administrators and devotees that the investigation will not be misused to malign the institution.
Deputy CM DK Shivakumar has already hinted at a conspiracy to defame Dharmasthala, while Home Minister G Parameshwara has promised action against the whistleblower if any of the claims made before the SIT are proven false. Health Minister and Dakshina Kannada in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao added that the Home Minister would present a detailed statement on the SIT’s progress in the Assembly on August 18.
While political tempers rise, the SIT continues its work in Dharmasthala. Over the past two weeks, the team has dug up 17 sites identified by the whistleblower, recovering human skeletal remains at two locations.
Human remains were first recovered at spot 6, believed to belong to a male. Later, skeletal parts were unearthed near spot 11, which is now referred to as spot 14. The remains are now being examined to determine identity and cause of death. Officials say the process will take time, as many of the claims span more than a decade.
The whistleblower, a former sanitation worker at the Dharmasthala temple, has claimed that over the years he was made to bury several bodies across town secretly. He first pointed out 13 such spots to investigators and later a few more spots were marked. His complaint forms the basis of the ongoing digging operations. But with remains found only at two spots, the veracity of the whistleblower is also being questioned.
Alongside the digging operations, new complaints have been pouring in.
One of the first to file a complaint was Sujatha Bhat, who said her daughter Ananya, a first-year MBBS student in Manipal, had allegedly gone missing during a trip to Dharmasthala in 2012. While some media reports have recently cast doubt on her claims, the SIT has said it is still probing the matter. SIT sources, however, say there are holes in Sujatha’s story.
Another petitioner, Nitin Devadiga, has asked the SIT to reopen the case of his sister Hemavathi, who disappeared 13 years ago after visiting Dharmasthala with an acquaintance. Despite repeated complaints, no FIR was registered at the time, he said. The SIT has forwarded the complaint to the local police station for further investigation.
Witnesses connected to the 2012 rape and murder of 17-year-old Sowjanya have also stepped forward. Her grandfather Babu Gowda and uncle Purandara Gowda approached the SIT saying there have been suspicious burials in the temple town. They want their testimonies formally investigated, alleging earlier attempts were suppressed.
Adding to this, another complaint was filed by social worker Jayanth T, who claimed he had witnessed the burial of a 13-year-old girl around 15 years ago. In his complaint, Jayanth alleged that the police conducted the burial without registering a case or carrying out the mandatory post-mortem.
Although there were reports that the SIT had wound up its work, sources told TNM that this was not correct. Officials said that even if remains have so far been found in only two places, they still represent lives lost and deserve a proper investigation.