Dharmasthala Crimes: ‘Woman’s murdered body buried in 2010 by panchayat’

Dharmasthala 

The documents accessed by blrpost.com show that Belthangady Town Panchayat buried the body of a woman who died due to an alleged murder in 2010. The body suspected to be a murder victim was found at Sharavathi Guest House in Dharmasthala. The  guest house is run by the Dharmasthala Temple Administration. 

It should be noted that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) is currently probing the Dharmasthala mass burial case and has so far dug nearly 17 spots. The SIT has recovered skeletal remains of two human bodies. The SIT was formed after a former sanitation worker at the Dharmasthala Temple Administration filed a complaint at a local police station, alleging that he was forced to bury hundreds of bodies.

This information was found in a letter written by the station officer of Dharmasthala Police Outpost to the Dharmasthala Gram Panchayat. In the letter, the officer stated that the body remained unidentified.

The letter mentioned that on April 6, 2010, a woman’s body was found at Sharavathi Lodge. “The woman died due to murder,” the letter noted. It also stated that an FIR was registered at the local police station. As the body was not identified, it was buried on April 7, 2010. This indicates that the police did not conduct any investigation to establish the woman’s identity. The letter does not even mention her age.

Along with this case, the Belthangady Town Panchayat also buried another unidentified body, recorded under an Unnatural Death Report (UDR), of a person aged between 35 and 40 years. This body was found near a ground in Dharmasthala village.

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