The Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Wednesday, September 10 summoned Vittal Gowda, uncle of Sowjanya, the teenager raped and murdered in Dharmasthala in 2012, and took him to the forest area near the Nethravathi bathing ghat to conduct a fresh mahazar regarding the recovery of the skull in the ongoing mass burials case. A mahazar is a document that the police prepare when carrying out search or seizure operations.
Vittal Gowda allegedly showed this spot to Chinnaiah, who has turned into a complainant-witness in the case. Chinnaiah has been arrested on charges of perjury for giving false testimony.
According to reports, after Vittal Gowda appeared before the SIT in the morning, he was taken to the spot by the team led by SP CA Simon. The process lasted for an hour. Curiously, the SIT team was not accompanied by the Assistant Commissioner, Tahsildar, or FSL team during this round of the spot visit, News Karnataka reported.
According to Deccan Herald, the SIT had conducted the mahazar of the spot on September 6. While there were reportedly some remains of the human body on the surface, the team could not verify properly as it got late in the evening. Due to this, the SIT team conducted the mahazar once again, Deccan Herald reported.
Meanwhile, in another development, a petition was filed by a man named Ganesh with the SIT seeking to investigate the death of his father and sister who were killed in Dharmasthala in 2012.
Ganesh’s father Narayana and sister were murdered on September 21, 2012. Earlier too, Ganesh and his sister Bharati had filed a complaint to probe the mysterious deaths.
“When we previously filed a complaint, SIT officials informed us that since the matter is in the High Court, it cannot be considered for investigation. We have withdrawn our petition in the court. We have attached a copy of the same and filed another complaint with the SIT," Ganesh was quoted as saying by Deccan Herald.