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Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday, July 18, said the state government is not opposed to the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the Dharmasthala mass burial case but maintained that a decision would be taken only after the police submit their report.
“We are not for or against it (SIT). We will follow it. If SIT is to be formed, we will form it. But let the police give their report first,” Siddaramaiah told reporters in Mysuru, when asked about retired Justice V Gopal Gowda’s demand for an SIT to look into the case.
Referring to the complainant in the case, a former sanitation worker who recently recorded his statement under CrPC Section 164, the CM said, “This person has been absconding for 10 years. He has now given a 164 statement. He says he buried bodies and is ready to show the locations. Let us see what the police say.”
The man had earlier claimed that, over several years, he was ordered to bury the bodies of women and children by his supervisors in the Dharmasthala temple administration. His complaint, filed on July 3, led to an FIR being registered by Dharmasthala police. Earlier this week, he handed over skeletal remains to the police, which he claims to have exhumed himself.
Responding to criticism over the slow pace of the investigation, Siddaramaiah defended the police, saying they were proceeding in accordance with the law. “There is no pressure on us. Even if someone tries to exert pressure, we will only follow the law,” he added.
The case has sparked public concern and calls for an independent probe, particularly from activists and the Karnataka State Women’s Commission, which recently raised questions about the number of missing women and girls from Dharmasthala over the past two decades.
Despite the gravity of the allegations, the issue has received limited coverage in mainstream Kannada media. Activists and lawyers have urged the state to hand over the probe to an SIT led by senior IPS officer Pranab Mohanty, citing past failures in high-profile investigations linked to the temple town.