Amid claims of police inaction over a former sanitation worker’s allegations of secret burials of sexual assault and murder victims in the temple town of Dharmasthala, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara said on Thursday that the police were waiting for the whistleblower to complain formally.
“Advocates have filed a complaint on behalf of a person. He has to come forward and file a complaint. He also has to make a statement (in front of a magistrate),” Parameshwara told reporters.
An FIR was registered at Dharmasthala police station in Dakshina Kannada district on July 4 following a complaint filed by lawyers representing the former sanitation worker who alleged that between 1998 and 2014, he had secretly disposed of several bodies that had no clothes on them but carried signs of sexual assault and torture.
“This is all procedural as the case should not fall through tomorrow on technical grounds,” the minister said, adding that the authorities would assess the information they could glean from the complainant regarding his allegations. “It has to be done within the bounds of law,” he said.
The FIR was registered under section 211(a) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which puts the onus on the complainant to furnish all details regarding his allegations.
On Wednesday, screengrabs of a video showed that the former sanitation worker had purportedly exhumed the skull of a victim so that he could submit its photographs to the police to bolster his claims.
Responding to the development, the Dakshina Kannada police issued a statement. “It is clarified that if there is something concrete available with police and which is to be shared with the public, the same will be communicated to the media. Mainstream media are requested to follow the guidelines issued by the Hon’ble Supreme Court and PCI regarding Media Trial in a case under investigation.
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“Kindly don’t expect Police to elaborate the manner in which investigation should proceed and to comment upon conjectures or numerous possibilities. We cannot also comment upon the materials shared by the complainant or someone on his behalf directly to the media, but which is not yet available to Police,” the statement said.
The former sanitation worker had fled the town a decade ago and was living in a neighbouring state.
A press release issued by the Dakshina Kannada police following the registration of the FIR said that the man had highlighted several crimes committed at Dharmasthala. “He has disposed of several bodies and is currently suffering from guilty consciousness. He has agreed to locate the spots where bodies were disposed of if protection is provided to him and his family,” the release said.
As per the police complaint filed by the lawyers, the accused in the crimes highlighted by the former sanitation worker were associated with the Dharmasthala temple administration. “The accused are very influential,” he had contended, seeking security under the witness protection scheme.
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He also claimed that he had been threatened with murder if he refused to bury the bodies.