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The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Dharmasthala case has approached the Belthangady court seeking permission to re-question the complainant-witness, Chinnaiah.
Chinnaiah had earlier been produced before the court, where his statement was recorded under Section 183 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). During his initial deposition, he claimed to have buried around 10 dead bodies, according to reports.
The SIT now intends to re-verify parts of his testimony. According to Deccan Herald, the team is not seeking his custody again, but only the court’s approval to question him for a few hours inside Shivamogga prison.
In a related development, the SIT has sought assistance from a professor at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), an expert in environmental DNA analysis, to aid the investigation.
On Monday, October 13, the SIT also questioned Chinnaiah’s wife, Mallika, and his sister, Ratna, at its Belthangady office. According to reports, the team is investigating claims by activists from the Sowjanya Movement that Mallika had accompanied her husband during a visit to activist Mahesh Shetty Thimarody’s residence, where he was allegedly sheltered for two months.
In July 2025, Chinnaiah had alleged that he had been forced to illegally bury hundreds of bodies, including those of women and children who appeared to have been sexually assaulted. He was arrested on August 18 after the SIT reportedly found inconsistencies in his claims. Investigators said the human skull he presented as evidence, claiming to have exhumed from an alleged burial site, was in fact handed over to him by another individual.