Representative Image: Credit: Live Law
HC vacates stay on Dharmasthala probe, directs SIT not to harass Soujanya activists
Bengaluru
The Karnataka High Court (HC) on Wednesday (November 12, 2025) vacated the stay on the First Information Report (FIR) 39/2025 registered at the Dharmasthala police station. The HC had stayed the probe into the FIR on October 30 after Soujanya activist Girish Mattannavar filed a petition seeking to quash the case.
Justice Mohammad Nawaz, however, ordered the Special Investigation Team (SIT) not to harass the activists. The SIT had sent notices to Mahesh Shetty Thimarodi, Mattannavar, Vittal Gowda, and Jayanth T under Section 35(3) of the Bharatiya Nagararika Suraksha Sanhita (BNNS). The SIT was formed on July 19 to investigate allegations of mass burials and missing persons in Dharmasthala village.
S. Balan, senior advocate representing Mattannavar, argued that the petitioner was not in favor of quashing the FIR, as the investigation must continue. However, Balan emphasised that his client and other activists must not be arrested.
The SIT, on the other hand, strongly objected to the stay and presented arguments for why the case must not be quashed. In its objection affidavit filed in the HC, the State government said that the SIT investigation, set up by a government order dated July 19, 2025, is not confined to the original complaint by Chinnayya.
“The mandate of the SIT is not limited to the complaint made by ‘V’ a.k.a. Chinnayya. The ambit of the SIT includes investigations into illegal burials over a period of time,” the State said. It added that the SIT’s recent discoveries of human skulls and other remains at Bangle Gudda demonstrated that the probe had “independent dimensions unconnected to the complainant’s earlier claims,” it was said in the objection statement.
The affidavit also noted that activists faced no immediate threat of arrest. “If the petitioners cooperate with the investigation under Section 35(3) of BNNS, they will not be at risk of arrest,” the State said. It added that the power of arrest arises only in cases of non-compliance with such notices. The notice, it stated, was “a protection measure created by law to guard against unjust and unlawful detention.”
Like Burude Media, Don’t peddle lies that activists filed petition to quash the FIR 39/2025. Let SIT arrest criminals behind the dead bodies illegally buried in Dharmasthala ?! Let SIT arrest those behind rape and murder of Soujanya, Vedavalli, Padmalatha and many UDRs registered and unregistered? Threatening the compainants and activists doesnt make you heroes. It makes you criminals standing on the side of Powerful criminals!
Very Well said. Let the fight continue and reach its logical and legal conclusion. Mr. Balan is doing a great job. Kudos.