Amid the row over the Special Investigation Team’s probe into alleged secret burials at Dharmasthala, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara said on Tuesday that it would be good if the investigation was completed soon, noting that a statement made by the complainant after his arrest and its impact were taken seriously by the SIT and the Government.
He was responding to media queries about the September 1 rally the Opposition BJP has announced over what it describes as a conspiracy hatched to defame the temple town.
C N Chinnaiah, the whistleblower who claimed that he had been forced to bury several bodies in the temple town between 1998 and 2014 and warned against approaching the police, was arrested for allegedly providing false information to the investigators.
“We think that it is good if it (the probe) ends soon,” he said, adding that the SIT would wrap up the investigation into the case in the coming days.
On searches carried out by the SIT at the residence of Mahesh Shetty Thimarodi, the right-wing activist behind the Justice for Sowjanya movement, the home minister said the SIT was doing it based on its terms of reference. “The SIT will act according to the information it has,” he said.
With BJP demanding a probe by the National Investigation Agency into the case, Parameshwara said there was no need for it. “The SIT is conducting a comprehensive probe. If there are lapses in the probe, then it is a different issue. But how can we judge that the probe was not carried out correctly until it is over,” he said.
On the BJP’s charge that the Congress Government was among the “conspirators who attempt to defame the temple town”, Parameshwara said the SIT was formed following complaints and demands made by various groups.
Story continues below this ad
“Our objective is to bring out the truth. The SIT was formed for the purpose… If forming an SIT is in itself part of a conspiracy, then we can say it is only ironic,” he added.