Dharmasthala ‘secret burials’: Karnataka government forms SIT to probe case

The Dharmasthala secret burials case attracted attention after a whistleblower filed a complaint at Dharmasthala police station earlier this month, alleging that he was forced to cremate bodies and was threatened against approaching the police. According to the complaint, the victims were women and had signs of sexual assault and rape.

Following an FIR based on the whistleblower’s complaint, Sujatha, a resident of Bengaluru, also filed a complaint at Dharmasthala police station last week, alleging that her daughter had gone missing when she went to visit the temple town. She had levelled allegation against a BJP MP and sought the help of police to exhume the remains of her daughter so that she could give her a proper burial.

The government order was based on a letter by the Karnataka State Commission for Women, which on July 17 sought the government to form an SIT citing media reports about the secret burials. The order said that the SIT will probe the FIR based on the complaint filed by the sanitation worker, and anticipated more complaints related to the case in different police stations of the state.

Prior to the same, lawyers representing the accused have also sought a SIT into the case. Last week, retired Supreme Court judge, Justice V Gopala Gowda, had alleged that both the whistleblower and his lawyers were facing threats, and urged the government to form an SIT to investigate the alleged crimes that took place at Dharmasthala.