Dharmasthala secret burials: SIT digs out skeletal remains on day 3 of inspections
Dharmasthala, in the foothills of the Western Ghats, is home to the Sree Manjunatheshwara Temple, one of Karnataka's foremost religious destinations.
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The Dharmasthala police registered the FIR in the case on July 4 on the basis of a complaint filed by the whistleblower, a former sanitation worker, earlier this month. (Express Photo)The probe into the Dharmasthala secret burials case got a major breakthrough Thursday as authorities discovered skeleton fragments during the exhumation process.
The remains were found at the sixth location identified by the anonymous whistleblower, who has alleged that he was threatened and forced to bury scores of bodies in the prominent temple town in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district.
According to sources, the special investigation team (SIT) found a portion of a skull and bone fragments at the spot, apart from pieces of cloth. The exhumation was carried out along the banks of the Netravati river, close to Dharmasthala town. The remains were sealed and sent for forensic analysis.
SIT officials have been carrying out the exhumation at various locations identified by the complainant since Tuesday. While the first spot identified by the complainant was excavated amid heavy rainfall on Tuesday, four other locations were exhumed on Wednesday.
Dharmasthala, in the foothills of the Western Ghats, is home to the Sree Manjunatheshwara Temple, one of Karnataka’s foremost religious destinations.
The discovery of these remains has given fresh momentum to the sanitation worker’s allegations.
The SIT did not find any remains during the first two days. But the lawyer of a woman who has alleged the disappearance of her daughter in the town in 2003 claimed that an ATM card and a PAN card were found at one of the four locations on day two of the process. Sujatha Bhat, 60, filed a police complaint on July 15 seeking a search for the remains of her daughter Ananya, who was a first-year medical student at a college in Manipal when she disappeared.
The whistleblower, a former sanitation worker employed at Dharmasthala, had filed a complaint at Dharmasthala police station earlier this month, based on which an FIR was registered on July 4. After recording his statement with the judicial magistrate, the complainant was escorted by SIT officials to the forested region around the town and 13 places were marked for exhumation. Of the 13, six have been excavated so far.
On Thursday, SIT officials are learnt to have sought assistance from forensic experts to preserve the skeletal remains. A dog squad was also pushed into service to locate any other remains found at the spot. With more remains expected to be found at the spot, as per the allegations made by the whistleblower, a temporary shelter was put up there to prevent contamination.
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