She alleged that when she confronted the temple authorities, she was threatened, assaulted and beaten on the head into a coma. She added that she remained silent all these years out of fear for her life.
Published Jul 16, 2025 | 11:24 AM ⚊ Updated Jul 16, 2025 | 3:50 PM
Ex-worker alleged murders, rapes, and secret burials tied to Dharmasthala Temple administration.
Synopsis: A Bengaluru woman whose daughter went missing in the Dharmasthala Manjunatha temple in 2003 formally filed a complaint before the SP. She claimed that locals told her they had witnessed temple staff taking away a young woman matching the description of her daughter.
A Bengaluru woman whose daughter went missing in the Dharmasthala Manjunatha Temple in 2003 formally filed a complaint before the Superintendent of Police (SP) in the Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka.
Her complaint on Tuesday, 15 July, follows the recent revelation of a Dalit man, formerly employed as a sanitation worker at the Dharmasthala Manjunatha temple, who alleged a 20-year cover-up of murders and sexual assaults.
The complainant, Sujatha Bhat, made serious allegations in her complaint. She claimed that locals told her they had witnessed temple staff taking away a young woman matching the description of her daughter, Ananya Bhat.
She further alleged that when she confronted the temple authorities, she was threatened, assaulted and beaten on the head into a coma. She added that she remained silent all these years out of fear for her life.
According to Manjunath N, the lawyer representing Sujatha, she was directed to file her complaint at the jurisdictional Dharmasthala Police Station.
In her complaint, Sujatha has requested the police to find the skeletal remains of her daughter Ananya Bhat — a medical student who went missing at Dharmasthala temple in 2003 — to perform her final rites according to religious customs.
Sujatha said in her complaint that she was working as a stenographer with the CBI office in Kolkata when Ananya went missing.
“At that time, my daughter Ananya was a first-year MBBS student at Manipal Medical College in Udupi district. She had gone on a trip to Dharmasthala with her classmates. A classmate named Rashmi, who was with my daughter Ananya, called my office landline and informed me that Ananya had gone missing at Dharmasthala temple. When I immediately called her hostel, they informed me that Ananya had not been seen for two to three days,” she said in the complaint.
Sujatha said that when she went to Dharamasthala in search of her daughter, locals told her that, three days earlier, they had seen temple staff taking away a young woman, and the description matched the photograph of her daughter.
“I immediately went to file a complaint at Belthangady police station from Dharmasthala. However, the officers and staff at Belthangady police station refused to take my complaint and threatened me saying, ‘How would we know where your daughter is? She must have gone with some boy. Look, so many people come and go missing every day. We can’t file complaints for everyone. Go away,’ and forced me out of the station,” she said.
Later, the complainant said, she met Veerendra Heggade, the Dharmadhikari (religious head) of Dharmasthala temple, and expressed her concern.
“At that time, his brother and the temple’s chief officer Harshendra Kumar was also present there. After hearing my account of my daughter’s disappearance, both of them abused me inappropriately and said, “It’s not our job to look after your daughter. Your daughter must have eloped with some boy. Why are you asking us? We have other work to do. Get out of here,” and dismissively had me thrown out by their workers,” she said.
She alleged in her complaint that after she met with the Dharmadhikari and his staff, she was taken to a place in the temple, where she was threatened and assaulted.
“At that time, four temple staff members wearing white clothes came to where I was sitting and said, ‘Come with us, we will give you information about your daughter,’ and took me to a room near the temple. They made me sit on a chair and threatened me, saying, ‘You forget about your daughter here and leave this place. You must not tell anyone about our people beating you. Don’t sit here in front of the temple and create a scene like this. If you don’t leave, your life will be in danger’,” she said in the complaint.
She alleged that when she refused to leave, they tied her to the chair, gagged her mouth and hit her.
“When I said I would not leave without seeing my daughter, those four people together tied me tightly to the chair with rope, gagged my mouth with cloth, turned off the room’s light, and kept me in that dark room the entire night. Later, the same temple staff wearing white clothes hit me hard on the head in the morning,” she added.
She claimed that the assault affected her health such that she was in a coma for three months. Sujatha said that when she regained consciousness, she was admitted and receiving treatment at Agadi Hospital in Bengaluru.
“I don’t know how I got there or who brought me from Dharmasthala. My bag, identity card, bank passbook, and vanity bag that were with me were all missing. I have a wound on my head requiring eight stitches from the severe blow. Having lost my daughter without any trace, I have been living a discouraged life in fear for many years,” she added.
She said that after reading about the sanitation worker who buried bodies, she thought there was a possibility he might have buried her daughter as well.
“Hence, my daughter’s skeletal remains might be found in the areas around Dharmasthala. We are from the traditional Hindu Brahmin community, and performing funeral rites (shraddha karma) for the deceased is a very important duty in life. If this is avoided, I as a mother cannot find redemption,” Sujatha wrote.
“Veerendra Heggade is a very influential and cruel person. I am ready to undergo polygraph testing immediately. Please arrest Veerendra Heggade and Harshendra Kumar and subject them to polygraph tests to make them reveal what happened to my daughter. They would know about my daughter’s disappearance,” she added.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
