The alleged crime took place in 1986, when the victim, then a 17-year-old Class 12 student living in Boliyaru, was raped and murdered.
Published Aug 11, 2025 | 11:03 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 11, 2025 | 11:03 PM
The police team during the exhumation process in Dharmasthala.
Synopsis: The woman told the media that a proper investigation would reveal the truth, and the accused could be punished. She said that although several rounds of investigation had been conducted earlier in the case, justice had not been served. The Corps of Detectives had investigated the matter and filed a report categorising it as an “undetected case.”
A woman has approached the Special Investigation Team (SIT) looking into the Dharmasthala secret burial case, demanding a re-probe into the rape and murder of her sister 39 years ago.
The woman, accompanied by CPI(M) leader BM Bhat and others, arrived at the SIT’s Belthangady office on Monday, 11 August, and lodged a complaint seeking a re-investigation.
The alleged crime took place in 1986, when the victim, then a 17-year-old Class 12 student living in Boliyaru, was raped and murdered.
Her sister told the media that a proper investigation would reveal the truth, and the accused could be punished. She said that although several rounds of investigation had been conducted earlier in the case, justice had not been served. The Corps of Detectives had investigated the matter and filed a report categorising it as an “undetected case.”
She felt that with the government now forming the SIT, a probe could bring justice for her sister. “If the SIT takes charge of the case, we are ready to provide them with the evidence and information we have,” she said.
Meanwhile, in a separate but related development, the state government accorded police station powers to the SIT.
“We have given them (the SIT) police station powers. Instead of going to the police station to register complaints, people can now directly approach the SIT,” Home Minister Dr. G Parameshwara said on Monday.
A notification dated 6 August stated, “The special investigation team (SIT) formed by government order is hereby notified with the power to follow investigative procedures and submit a final report to the concerned court under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023.”
An officer in the rank of inspector or above within the SIT has been designated as the Station House Officer (SHO).
The Karnataka government formed the SIT after a former sanitation employee of the Dharmasthala Manjunatha Temple in Dakshina Kannada district alleged that he had been forced to bury hundreds of bodies. He also identified 15 locations.
The first eight locations were identified along the Nethravathi River. Locations 9 to 12 were beside the highway near the river. The 13th was on the road connecting Nethravathi to Aajukuri, and the remaining two, 14 and 15, were in the Kanyadi area near the highway. Human skeletal remains were found at two sites.
Earlier on 15 July, a Bengaluru woman filed a complaint before the Superintendent of Police (SP) in the Dakshina Kannada district, regarding her daughter, who had gone missing during a visit to the temple in 2003.
The complainant, Sujatha Bhat, claimed that locals told her they had witnessed temple staff taking away a young woman matching the description of her daughter, Ananya Bhat.
