Chinnaiah CN, the complainant in the Dharmasthala mass burial allegations case, has approached the Karnataka High Court seeking directions to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to complete its probe and submit a final report in Crime No. 39/2025 registered at Dharmasthala police station.
In a writ petition, Chinnaiah has urged the court to direct the SIT to take action against individuals named in a preliminary inquiry report dated November 19, 2025, and to consider a complaint he submitted on December 18, 2025. He has also sought directions to expedite the investigation and file a final report before the court in Belthangady.
Chinnaiah had alleged in his earlier complaint that he was persuaded, coached and pressured by several activists and associates to make false allegations against Dharmasthala and its Dharmadhikari, D Veerendra Heggade. He claimed that activists including Mahesh Shetty Thimarody, Girish Mattennavar and Vittala Gowda approached him after learning that he had previously worked in Dharmasthala and encouraged him to make claims about mass burials in the temple town.
Chinnaiah further claimed that he was promised financial assistance, including money to build a house, and was offered larger sums if he cooperated. He alleged that he was told the operation had a budget of around Rs 200 crore and that he would receive Rs 50 lakh if he helped implicate Heggade.
The petition has been filed against the State government, the Superintendent of Police, Dakshina Kannada, the SIT chief and the Station House Officer of Dharmasthala police station.
The Karnataka High Court has issued notices to the State government and the SIT, seeking information on the status of the investigation.
The matter has been posted for further hearing on June 29.
Background of the case
Initially, Chinnaiah had claimed that he had buried hundreds of bodies in Dharmasthala, mostly of women and girls who had allegedly been sexually assaulted, and that the burials had been carried out illegally.
Chinnaiah filed a complaint at the Dharmasthala police station on July 3, 2025 following which a case was registered on July 4, 2025. He recorded his statement before the JMFC court in Belthangady on July 11,2025.
The SIT subsequently carried out excavations at multiple locations identified by Chinnaiah. However, after the exhumation exercise was completed, he changed his earlier version and submitted a fresh statement to both the police and the magistrate.
In the revised statement, Chinnaiah claimed that he had buried ten bodies in Dharmasthala, including that of a woman who had suffered burn injuries.
Following the change in his statements, the SIT arrested Chinnaiah on August 23, 2025.
