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The special investigation team (SIT) probing the Dharmasthala mass burials case, on Monday, July 28, took the complainant, a 48-year-old former employee, to the Nethravathi Snana Ghatta (bathing ghat) located in Karnataka’s Dharmasthala where the bodies of women and children were allegedly secretly buried.
At the time of publishing this article, the whistleblower had taken the police to 13 spots in the area. While all other spots were in the forest area, spot number 13 was adjacent to the road. Even though the whistleblower took the officers to a 14th spot inside a farm, the inspection could not be conducted due to heavy rains. The exercise will resume on Tuesday.
According to sources, the exhumation will start only after the SIT receives the required permissions from the Revenue Department, Forest Department, and both the Magistrate and Executive Magistrate. Once approvals are in place, the SIT will organise a team to carry out the exhumation. Sources within the SIT say that permissions are expected within a few hours, and exhumation work will begin soon after.
The inspected spots will be guarded by the Anti-Naxal force on Monday night.
The complainant has continued to stand by his testimony and investigators say the next steps in the case depend on whether any human remains are found. Without that, there is no physical confirmation of the claims made.
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Over the weekend, the complainant reportedly showed possible burial sites to surveyors using official maps. On Monday morning, multiple departments gathered at the Belthangady police station for the site inspection. The complainant arrived around 11 am, wearing a black mask with white designs. He spent some time at the station before being escorted by the SIT to the Nethravathi Snana Ghatta, one of the sites identified.
Officials from the Revenue and Forest Departments were also present during the visit.
The SIT has indicated that it will examine all sites marked by the complainant, but they note that the landscape may have changed due to heavy rains and flooding over the years. At this stage, the team does not plan to use radar equipment, though it may be considered later if required.
Investigating officials Jithendra Kumar Dayama and SP CA Simon were present at the station. Others who joined the investigation included officials from the Revenue department, Department of Settlement, Survey and Land Records, Internal Security Department (ISD), Scene of Crime Officers (SOCO) from the Forensic Sciences Laboratory, and the forest department team.
After a brief discussion at the police station, the witness was taken to the spot at around 11.45 am where he claimed to have illegally buried bodies.
At the alleged crime spot, the SIT took spot mahazar. Mahazar is an official written record or report of facts or observations made at the crime scene.
The Karnataka government formed an SIT on July 19 after a man claimed that he had secretly buried scores of bodies, many of women and children between 1995-2014 upon instructions from his superiors.
To prove his claims, the complainant had handed over skeletal remains allegedly exhumed from one of the alleged burial sites to the police. Based on the complaint, a case was registered on July 4.
The SIT constituted on July 19 is headed by DGP Pronab Mohanty.
At TNM, we have been closely following the Dharmasthala mass burial case. We are an ad-free platform- powered by our subscribers. Do take a paid subscription or contribute to our reporting fund.