SIT officer Manjunath Gowda ‘threatens’ Bheema (X) to withdraw complaint, ‘captures video’

Belthangady

In a shocking development that could shake public trust in the ongoing probe, a police officer of the Special Investigation Team (SIT), Manjunath Gowda, has been accused of threatening the key witness-complainant in the Dharmasthala mass burial case. 

The officer allegedly pressured the complainant on Friday (August 1) to retract the original police complaint filed at the Dharmasthala police station. Gowda, a Police Inspector at Sirsi Rural police station in Uttara Kannada district is also accused of coercing Bheema (referred to as ‘X in the complaint’) into falsely stating his willingness to withdraw the complaint—while recording the statement on his mobile phone inside the SIT camp at Belthangady.

The reference X is used by this website to protect the source of information as in the original complaint different alphabet is used

An advocate representing Bheema has now filed a complaint with the senior SIT officials narrating the incident. This dramatic development has raised serious questions about the credibility of lower-rung officers in the SIT. The team is headed by Director General of Police (DGP) Pronab Mohanty.

This information was shared with blrpost.com by an official in the Home Ministry, who also provided the content of the complaint. According to the official, the advocate, Ananya Gowda, has demanded the immediate removal of Manjunath Gowda from the team.

Full text of complaint (sharing as shared)

Respected Sir

It is with utmost seriousness and concern that we are writing to your office at this hour.

The protected witness ‘X’ has just informed us that:

On the night of 1-Aug, police officer Mr. Manjunath Gowda spoke to ‘X’ in the SIT camp at Belthangady in a closed room;

Mr. Manjunath Gowda threatened ‘X’ about the dire consequences ‘X’ would face from the complaint he has lodged;

that ‘X’ will face long prison time;

that the police will arrest ‘X’ very soon.

With these threats, Mr. Manjunath Gowda has directed ‘X’ to make statements on camera to retract and disown his complaint and to implicate outsiders as responsible for his complaint.

Further, as stated by ‘X’, Mr. Manjunath Gowda recorded ‘X’s statements made under threat on his mobile phone.

We are truly shocked, and we expect that immediate steps will be taken to address this issue. We request you to immediately exclude Mr. Manjunath Gowda from the further stages of this investigation. His exclusion is necessary to allow the complainant-witness to speak freely and without fear during the ongoing investigation.

Sincerely

Ananya Gowda
Advocate
Mr. ‘X’

In the formal complaint emailed to the SIT, Ananya alleged that Gowda intimidated ‘X’ on the night of August 1 inside the SIT camp. The complaint states that the officer summoned ‘X’ to a closed room, where he allegedly issued threats of arrest and imprisonment, and coerced him into making a video statement retracting his original complaint and blaming unnamed “outsiders” for influencing it. The threatening statement was allegedly recorded on Gowda’s personal mobile phone.

The advocate described the incident as “shocking” and emphasised that Bheema can no longer speak freely in Gowda’s presence. She has demanded Gowda’s immediate exclusion from the probe team. A senior SIT official (he/she) told blrpost.com that the matter will be looked into with utmost seriousness.

It may be recalled that on July 15, Ojaswi Gowda and Sachin Deshpande, in a press release demanding that the SIT be led by Pronab Mohanty, had stressed that investigating officers and supervisory personnel appointed to the SIT must be individuals of “unimpeachable integrity,” and that all such appointments should be strictly recommended by Mohanty himself.

The Dharmasthala case has drawn national attention for its chilling claims of mass burials and alleged cover-ups. The investigation is under intense public and media scrutiny, with growing calls for transparency and the protection of whistleblowers.

According to sources, the SIT did not find any skeletal remains on Friday at the seventh and eighth locations. However, remains have been discovered in at least five of the six earlier sites, including human skulls.