The development comes weeks after the complainant was arrested by the SIT.
Published Sep 17, 2025 | 4:48 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 17, 2025 | 4:48 PM
The police team during the exhumation process in Dharmasthala.
Synopsis: The forensic team collected soil samples from the area where the bones were discovered. The SIT is continuing its inspection by surveying the location. Further details are awaited.
The SIT, while conducting searches in Banglegudda forest with regard to the Dharmasthala case, found a skull, some skeleton remains and pieces of clothing.
The forensic team collected soil samples from the area where the bones were discovered. The SIT is continuing its inspection by surveying the location. Further details are awaited.
The development comes weeks after the complainant was arrested by the SIT.
The investigation had by then covered 17 locations that were shown to the SIT by the complainant but when nothing concrete turned up, it was decided to do a DNA analysis of the small quantify of bones they had recovered and wait for the results.
The complainant, a Dalit man, formerly employed as a sanitation worker at the Dharmasthala Manjunatha temple, alleged that between 1995 and 2014, he was forced under death threats to dispose of hundreds of bodies, many showing signs of sexual violence and brutal murders.
He identified 15 possible burial sites. 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.
The SIT have been conducting exhumation at the sites identified by the complainant. Partial human skeletal remains were found at the sixth burial site on 31 July.
Apart from the main complainant, Sujatha Bhatt, alleged that her daughter, a medical student, had gone missing in 2003 while visiting the Dharmasthala Manjunatha Temple.
However, the SIT, which has been probing the matter, recently raised doubts about the very existence of Sujatha’s daughter, Ananya Bhatt, whose alleged disappearance formed the basis of the sensational charges.
Investigators pressed Sujatha to produce a photograph of her missing daughter.
When she released one, suspicions deepened as inquiries indicated that Sujatha, who had lived in Ripponpete, Shivamogga, with one Prabhakar Baliga, never had children.
Later, another complainant appeared before the SIT and claimed he had witnessed the illegal burial of a teen girl. The individual, identified as Jayant T, appeared before the Beltangady SIT office and submitted a complaint related to a case he had allegedly witnessed.
(Edited by Sumavarsha with inputs from Anisha Reddy)
