The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing allegations of secret burials around Dharmasthala in Karnataka visited the grama panchayat office in the temple town on Wednesday and, according to sources, collected details including those related to staff who worked there from 1998 to 2014, when the alleged murders and secret burials took place.
SIT officials accompanied the whistleblower to one of the spots they had marked in his presence. However, they escorted him back to the SIT base shortly because no remains were said to have been found there.
During the day, Director-General of Police Pronab Mohanty held multiple meetings at the SIT office set up near the Belthangady police station, ahead of the inspection of the 13th marked site.
Also, three YouTubers covering the inspections in the secret burial case were attacked by unknown assailants, who accused them of depicting the temple town in a negative manner. The YouTubers were rushed to a hospital at nearby Ujire. A police complaint is yet to be filed in connection with the incident.
For eight days since last Tuesday, SIT officials have dug up 12 of the 13 sites. While fragments of a skeleton were found on the third day of the inspection, last Thursday, portions of another skeleton were recovered on Monday from a spot not marked during the first round of spot mahazars.
The SIT is expected to inspect spot 13 on Thursday, with officials facing constraints such as a power line passing across the place. The security staff attached to the SIT continued to guard the locations inspected over the past week.
The alleged secret burials at Dharmasthala> grabbed nationwide attention after the Dharmasthala police registered an FIR on July 14 based on a complaint filed by the whistleblower, a former sanitation worker in the temple town. He alleged that he had been forced to bury several bodies at various locations near Nethravathi Snana Ghatta (bathing ghat) and was warned against approaching the police.