Dharmasthala Crimes: 15 areas marked, SIT set to begin exhumation

Dharmasthala 

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Dharmasthala mass burial case has marked about 15 areas near Dharmasthala Sthnana Ghatta (bathing point) and is all set to begin the exhumation after 9:30 am. The identification of locations was completed on Monday evening. 

A highly placed source in the SIT talking to Blrpost.com said digging up will commence as soon as the complainant arrives. “We have asked him to come at 9:30 am. On Monday he arrived a little late. The time of the commencement depends on his arrival as this procedure has to be conducted in front of him.” 

Also Read | Dharmasthala Crimes: SIT begins preparations to exhume bodies 

The SIT along with wth Assistant Director of Land Records, range forest officials, revenue officials, and panchas (five persons for carrying out panchanama) visited several locations some of them are very steep to mark the location shown by the witness-complainant. The sources say that the team was tired due to the terrain they walked on. The SIT was looking at 15-20 areas to mark and the complainant had delivered what he had informed during the recording of his statement. 

It may be recalled that the complainant filed a report at the Dharmasthala police station on July 3, alleging that he was coerced into burying bodies. A First Information Report (FIR) was registered on July 4. His legal counsel demanded the formation of an SIT led by Mohanty, and the government constituted the team on July 19. The 20-member team is now working tirelessly to uncover the truth.

The complainant, who joined the Dharmasthala Temple Institution as a sanitation worker in 1995 and worked in various service departments until 2014, has exposed a disturbing pattern of mass burials—often involving women, children, and vulnerable men. According to him, many of the deceased were not merely unclaimed or unknown, but victims of heinous crimes, concealed under the institution’s sacred image.

For more Karnataka news developments click here