DGP Pronab Mohanty to head the investigating team

Bengaluru: Finally, the State Government has heeded to the demand of Advocates, various organisations and Karnataka State Commission for Women for a thorough investigation into the alleged mass burial case in Dharmasthala.

The State Government, yesterday, announced a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising of four IPS officers. The SIT team, headed by DGP Internal Security and Cyber Command Pronab Mohanty, includes DIG (Recruitment) M.N. Anucheth, City Armed Reserve (CAR), Headquarters, DCP Dr. S.K. Soumyalatha and SP Jitendra Kumar Dayama.

Former Supreme Court Judge Justice V. Gopala Gowda had also urged the State Government to constitute an SIT stating that complainant and the Advocates were being threatened.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah held a detailed discussion with Home Minister Dr. G. Parameshwar before announcing the formation of the SIT. The case was also being discussed widely in the public which also promoted the State Government to form a special team to investigate into the case.

The State Government has instructed Director General and Inspector General of Police (DG&IGP) to transfer all cases registered with respect to mass burials to the SIT along with providing required officers and staff.

The SIT will now be investigating the existing cases and the cases that might be filed at various Police Stations across the State related to mass burials at Dharmasthala. DG &IGP has also been instructed to conduct timely review of the progress in the investigation. The State Government has also instructed to submit a report at the earliest.

Case History

On July 3, a 48-year-old Dalit man and a former sanitation worker at Dharmasthala Temple, filed a complaint before the Dakshina Kannada SP and Dharmasthala Police Station alleging that he was threatened by people involved in the crime to secretly dispose hundreds of bodies between 1995 and 2004. He had also claimed that the bodies were of women and children and some of them bore signs of sexual assault.

Shri Kshetra Dharmasthala

Shri Kshetra Dharmasthala authorities have welcomed the State Government’s decision to form a Special Investigation Team to probe into the alleged mass burials at Dharmasthala.

In a press release, Shri Kshetra Dharmasthala Spokesperson K. Parshwanath Jain, welcoming the State Government’s decision to hand over the case to SIT, said that the ‘Mass Burial Case’ had grabbed national attention with various theories and rumours emerging from various corners of the country.

He has urged the SIT to unfold the real truth at the earliest to clear the doubts about Shri Kshetra Dharmasthala that have been created in the minds of the public.