Dharmasthala Crimes: ‘6th spot human skeleton was of a person aged 32 or 33’

Bengaluru

A full human skeleton found at the sixth spot by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Dharmasthala mass burial case is of a person aged 32 or 33 years, sources informed blrpost.com.

The SIT on Monday continued its digging operation and will be looking at the 11th, 12th, and 13th spots marked by them. Apart from that, the team is also keen to look into spots 14 and 15, which are yet to be marked.

A highly placed source in the SIT said the remains, including the skull, have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) to determine the sex, age, and cause of death of the person. The source said the person was 32 or 33 years old at the time of death and that the skeleton was fragmented.

The FSL is yet to determine the sex of the person; however, the source believes it is most likely male. But this can only be confirmed by the experts analyzing the remains at the lab. The SIT is likely to hire Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) to assist the investigation in locating more bodies.

It may be recalled that the State government formed the SIT on July 19 following a complaint by a former sanitation worker at Dharmasthala police station on July 3.

The complainant had alleged that he was coerced to bury hundreds of bodies (mostly of sexual abuse) by certain influential persons attached to the Dharmasthala Temple Administration. After a public furore demanding a probe, the government decided to constitute the SIT headed by Director General of Police (DGP) Pronab Mohanty.

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