Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara said on Monday that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the sensational Dharmasthala secret burials case was likely to submit its report by the end of October.
Speaking to reporters, the minister said the SIT had earlier assured the Government that the report would be ready by October. “The SIT had said that they would submit it by October. I think they might submit it by October 31. If not on that date, it could be delayed by a day or two. We have directed them to file the comprehensive final report,” he said.
“We cannot say whether they will submit the complete report or an interim report,” the home minister added.
Parameshwara said the SIT was awaiting the forensic science analysis of skeletal remains that were recovered, as well as the chemical examination reports of soil samples collected during the investigation around Dharmasthala. These findings are crucial for the investigation and will be part of the final report, he added.
The Dharmasthala case has drawn nationwide attention following allegations made by C N Chinnaiah, a former sanitation worker, that he had been forced to bury several bodies secretly in the temple town between 1998 and 2014. The state government formed an SIT days after an FIR was registered based on his complaint.
While skeletal remains were exhumed from one of the 16 locations identified by Chinnaiah, several pieces of skeletal remains were found at Banglagudde near Dharmasthala in September. During the investigation, a woman filed a police complaint alleging that her daughter had gone missing in the temple town in 2003.
The SIT has questioned several activists and witnesses who had raised concerns about the alleged secret burials. It arrested Chinnaiah in August on perjury charges owing to inconsistencies in his statements about the alleged burials.