It has been more than a decade since the rape and murder of 17-year-old Sowjanya, in the temple town of Dharmasthala in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district. The man accused of the crime was recently acquitted by a court. Sowjanya's family however did not find the verdict surprising as they have always believed that the real culprits were being protected by the police because they enjoyed the patronage of a Padma awardee, who is also a powerful religious leader considered a living deity by his followers.
Santhosh Rao, the suspect presented by the police, spent six years in the Bantwal jail. TNM's Shivani Kava and Bhuvan, along with a team of journalists from Eedina, went to Ujire and Dharmasthala to piece together a 12-year old murder and the intrigues around it.
We also spoke to Sowjanya and Santosh's family members.
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