Nitin Devadiga submitted the petition to the SIT in Belthangady, saying his sister, Kumari Hemavathi, had gone missing from Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala. He sought a probe into the incident.
Published Aug 16, 2025 | 7:06 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 16, 2025 | 7:06 PM
The police team during the exhumation process in Dharmasthala.
Synopsis: Nitin Devadiga said his sister, a school dropout, had gone to the temple with a woman identified as Vasanthi in 2012, and never returned home. Confirming the receipt of the petition, the SIT told him that any information/complaint regarding a criminal act should be submitted to the local police station for further action.
A man from Dakshina Kannada has petitioned the Special Investigation Team probing the alleged secret burials in Dharmasthala to look into the case of his sister, missing since 2012.
Nitin Devadiga of Karinje Jodukatte in Bantwal taluk submitted the petition to the SIT in Belthangady, saying his sister, Kumari Hemavathi, had gone missing from Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala.
“My younger sister, Kumari Hemalatha, daughter of Narayana Devadiga, aged 17 years, went to Dharmasthala Temple with a woman named Vasanthi approximately 13 years ago. My sister had studied up to the 8th grade and was working as a domestic help after dropping out of school. We had seen Vasanthi take my sister, Kumari Hemavathi, to Dharmasthala Temple,” he said in the petition.
Hemavathi had visited the temple along with Vasanthi, but never returned home. Despite lodging complaints with the Poonjalkatte police station, no FIR was registered, and no action was taken against Vasanthi, he said.
“Despite repeatedly approaching the police, we have not received a proper response. Having seen the recent media reports about numerous murders, rape cases, and concealed bodies at Dharmasthala, we are anxious,” he added.
The family has now urged the SIT to reopen the case and ensure justice after 13 years of unanswered appeals.
The SIT confirmed receiving Devadiga’s petition.
“We have received and reviewed the application submitted by you today. Any information/complaint regarding a criminal act should be submitted to the local police station for further action,” the SIT said.
On 15 July, a Bengaluru woman requested the Dakshina Kannada Superintendent of Police (SP) to inquire about her missing daughter.
The woman, Sujata Bhat, requested the police to find the skeletal remains of her daughter Ananya Bhat — a medical student who had gone missing at Dharmasthala temple in 2003 — to perform her final rites according to religious customs.
She approached the SP after a former sanitation worker at the Dharmasthala Manjunatha temple alleged a 20-year cover-up of murders and sexual assaults.
Sujatha Bhat claimed that locals told her they had witnessed temple staff taking away a young woman matching the description of her daughter.
Later on 11 August, another woman approached the SIT, demanding a re-probe into the rape and murder of her sister, allegedly committed 39 years ago.
The woman, accompanied by CPI(M) leader BM Bhat and others, arrived at the SIT’s Belthangady office 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.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
