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The Dharmasthala mass burial case has taken a new turn with a man claiming that he witnessed the body of a girl being buried in violation of procedure 15 years ago.
A social activist named Jayanth, from Ichlampady village in Puttur taluk, has claimed that he witnessed the burial of the decomposed body of a teenage girl in Dharmasthala-Ujire 15 years ago.
Forty-eight-year-old Jayanth met the Special Investigation Team (SIT) at its office in Belthangady taluk on Saturday, August 2.
Speaking to the media outside the SIT office, Jayanth said that he has been asked to return on Monday to file a formal complaint.
“I have seen that girl’s body, and it was buried without following any legal procedures. I know the spot where her body was buried. I do not know whether the girl was murdered, but her body was in a slightly decomposed state.”
Asked why he was coming forward only now, he said there was a long-standing atmosphere of fear in Dharmasthala. “Few more people will come forward to share similar disturbing experiences in the coming days before the SIT,” he claimed.
Jayanth later told a news channel that he is a relative of Padmalatha, a young woman who went missing in Dharmasthala in December 1986 and whose body was found after 56 days. “We have not got justice for the murder of Padmalatha in the past. So we had lost faith in this system. Now, as an SIT has been formed to investigate the old case, we have gained faith. So I am filing a complaint. I am a witness to the girl being buried.”
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) is probing claims by a former sanitation worker who has alleged that he was forced to bury several bodies in Dharmasthala, including those of women and girls who appeared to be sexually assaulted. So far, skeletal remains have been recovered at only one of the eight locations the police have excavated. Excavation at the remaining five sites is still pending.
To aid the investigation, the SIT has opened a public information hotline at its temporary office in Kadri Mallikatte, Mangaluru. The SIT can be contacted by calling 0824-2005301, sending a WhatsApp message to 8277986369, or emailing sitdps@ksp.gov.in.