Communist Party of India (CPI) Rajya Sabha MP Sandosh Kumar has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, demanding that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) take over the investigation into a series of alleged mass rapes, murders, and burials in Dharmasthala, Karnataka. The MP stated that these incidents point to an “organised criminal enterprise” that has operated with administrative silence for decades.
Referring to the July 3 confession of a former Dalit sanitation worker at the Dharmasthala temple, the MP wrote that the man alleged he was “forced under threat to dispose of over 500 human bodies, many of them women and minors who had been sexually assaulted.” The man has reportedly submitted physical evidence and offered to lead investigators to burial sites in the forests surrounding Dharmasthala.
In his letter, Sandosh Kumar said, “These are not isolated aberrations. Taken together, they reveal signs of an organised criminal enterprise, one that has flourished under administrative silence.” He accused the local police of inaction and complicity, stating that “the so-called Acquittal Review Committee was never operationalised meaningfully.”
The MP also cited multiple past cases, some dating back to the 1970s, including the deaths of school teacher Vedavalli, PU student Padmalatha, medical student Ananya Bhat, and the 2012 rape and murder of 17-year-old Sowjanya. He alleged that despite these chilling incidents, “the state government has failed to constitute a credible Special Investigation Team.”
In a press release issued by the CPI Parliamentary Party Office, Sandosh Kumar further noted that “the number of Unnatural Death Reports (UDRs) filed in this small town is alarmingly high, far beyond what can be dismissed as statistical anomaly.”
The MP urged that only a central agency with complete independence could ensure a fair investigation. “A town revered by millions cannot remain clouded by fear, suspicion, and buried truths,” he wrote. “We owe it to the victims, to the nation, and to the legacy of Dharmasthala to ensure that the truth is uncovered without fear or favour.”
The CPI’s appeal comes amid growing public outrage and mounting pressure on the Karnataka government to ensure accountability in the case. Dharmasthala, a major religious pilgrimage centre, is run by a powerful temple trust that has long held social and political influence in the region.