Dharmasthala Crimes: ‘Accused Chinnayya tells SIT he buried bodies illegally’

Bengaluru 

Chinnayya, who is accused in the Dharmasthala mass burial case, has admitted to burying bodies illegally and is firmly sticking to the statement he made before the magistrate, sources in the Home Ministry revealed to blrpost.com.

TV news channels have reported that Chinnayya claimed he had not buried bodies illegally but only post-mortem bodies. However, the sources said these media reports are false and baseless.

“After his arrest, during interrogation, Chinnayya told the SIT that he lied about the skull. He said the other statements he made before the magistrate are true and that he buried illegal bodies. He also admitted to burying post-mortem bodies. This is precisely why the SIT charged him with perjury and forgery pertaining to the skull,” the source said.

It may be recalled that on July 3, Chinnayya, also known as Bheema, filed a complaint at the Dharmasthala police station alleging that he was forced to bury dead bodies. In the complaint, he claimed that some of the bodies he buried had been subjected to violence.

On July 11, Chinnayya recorded his statement before the Principal Civil Judge and Judicial Magistrate First Class, Belthangady taluk, under Section 183 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). On July 4, police registered an FIR, and on July 19, the State government constituted the SIT.

Sources said the SIT will continue the investigation based on his statement but only after corroborating his claims multiple times. As the SIT has already found skeletal remains of two human beings, the team is convinced about the presence of bodies. The team has also sent soil samples to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) to detect evidence of human DNA.

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