Dharmasthala SIT to submit over 1000-page explosive report on probe to Women Commission

SIT report says the team is investigating into burial of 74 bodies in and around Dharmasthala on the same day they were found

Bengaluru

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Dharmasthala case (Crime No. 39/2025) is likely to submit a progress report to the Karnataka State Commission for Women later this week, a source in the Home Department told blrpost.com.

The development follows a letter sent by the Women Commission on November 5, in which it urged the SIT to substantially widen the scope of its inquiry to include deaths, missing-person cases and unexplained disappearances reported from Dharmasthala village over the years. The commission, in its communication, expressed concern that the investigation appeared narrowly focused.

In the letter, Commission Chairperson Nagalakshmi Choudary noted that the SIT’s probe seemed confined to the recovery and production of human remains based largely on the statement of a single individual. She urged the investigation team to broaden its mandate to cover all reported cases of missing women, students, murders and unnatural deaths in and around the Dharmasthala area over the past two decades. The commission also formally sought a detailed report from the SIT on the status and direction of the investigation.

Following the commission’s intervention, the SIT prepared a comprehensive report running into more than 1,000 pages. According to sources familiar with its contents, the report examines over five distinct aspects of the investigation. Crucially, it states that the probe has now moved beyond the claims made by Chinnayya and by activists associated with the Soujanya case. In effect, this indicates that the SIT has completed its examination of Chinnayya’s allegations and is pursuing other lines of inquiry for which neither the accused nor the activists are required.

The report, sources said, specifically details the SIT’s findings and ongoing inquiries into alleged murders in the village, cases of disappearance, discoveries at Bangle Gudde hillock and other related matters.

What is new?

A highly placed Home Department source said that the report contains what were described as “explosive” details. It also records that the SIT has initiated a probe into the burial of 74 dead bodies on the same day they were found in and around the temple town. At present, the SIT is not investigating any activists, including Mahesh Shetty Thimarodi, Girish Mattannavar, Vittal Gowda, Jayanth T and Sujatha Bhat.

The SIT began examining the issue of burials after Soujanya’s mother, Kusumavati Gowdab, submitted a petition seeking a detailed inquiry. Soujanya was killed in 2012. In her petition to the SIT, Kusumavati requested the team to probe these suspicious deaths and deliver justice. She underscored that her minor daughter, she said, had met a similar fate, reinforcing her demand for a thorough and impartial investigation into the deaths reported from the region.

Devil is in details

Dharmasthala panchayat records revealed that at least 74 unidentified bodies discovered in and around Dharmasthala between 1990 and 2021 were buried on the same day they were found, raising serious questions about due process, forensic examination, and compliance with legal protocols.

While 72 bodies were buried in and around Dharmasthala, two dead bodies were buried on the same day at K S Hegde cemetery. The panchayat document has not mentioned as to why these bodies were buried at the cemetery belonging to a private hospital. The hospital is located about 60 km away from Belthangady. For the rest of the bodies, the panchayat has not mentioned the location of the burials. 

The data, compiled in the petition titled Annexure B, lists 74 cases where the deceased— described as beggars or unidentified persons—were found across various locations such as the Nethravathi River, Snanaghatta, Dharmasthala bus stand, parking areas, and forest patches near Bahubali Betta. Each entry shows that the date of discovery and the date of burial are identical.

In most cases, the Dharmasthala Police informed the Gram Panchayat on the same day via official letters, instructing immediate burial without mention of extended investigation, postmortem details, or attempt at identification. 

The records span over three decades—from 1990 to 2021—and show a consistent pattern: bodies recovered from rivers, temple premises, and public areas were swiftly buried, often within hours of discovery. Several cases even describe the deceased as “beggar,” “unconscious,” or “suicide,” but provide no corroborating investigation notes.

The revelation comes amid mounting public concern over a possible cover-up of unnatural deaths and the mishandling of unidentified bodies at one of Karnataka’s most revered pilgrimage centres.