With a two-week hunt for the remains of bodies from alleged secret burials in the Dharmasthala region of Karnataka yielding little result, police sources indicated that the search operations are likely to be called off soon. The search had been initiated on the basis of allegations made by a former sanitation worker in the region who worked in the region from 1995-2014.
The Karnataka Police Special Investigation Team (SIT), which began the search on July 29, has so far found remains of a body in the form of bones at one of 13 locations indicated by the man, police sources said.
“There will be searches in two more locations, and then the operations will be called off. There have been no significant findings so far to substantiate allegations made in the matter,” a source said.
The remains of a person who committed suicide recently were found during the search operations on the banks of the Nethravati River and the forests surrounding the bathing ghats near Dharmasthala, and a case of unnatural death has been recorded, sources said.
The former sanitation worker had alleged in a statement given before a magistrate that he was involved in multiple secret burials in the Dharmasthala temple town on behalf of the temple administration between 1995-2014, including bodies of women bearing injuries that suggest suspicious deaths. Following the statement last month, the Karnataka government had constituted an SIT to probe the allegations.
The investigations have so far not yielded results to substantiate the allegations, with the bones found at point number six revealing nothing beyond the fact that they were of an unknown male, sources said.
While a woman who claimed to be a former CBI stenographer had come forward saying that her daughter, who was an MBBS student at Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, had gone missing in Dharmasthala in 2003, the police probe has not substantiated the claim.
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Government under pressure
There is growing pressure on the state government to call off the operations and prevent further harm to the reputation of the Sree Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara temple in Dharmasthala.
A meeting of the Congress Legislature Party this week witnessed calls from many MLAs to halt the search operations in the interest of the temple town’s reputation. The Opposition BJP has accused the Congress government of hurting the sentiments of devotees with the probe and has called for the tabling of an interim report on the probe.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar has also questioned the probe, which was ordered after several activists persuaded Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Home Minister G Parameshwara to conduct an investigation into the allegations.
“The Dharmadhikari of Dharmasthala is doing yeoman service; we do not doubt it. Someone has alleged crimes due to an internal feud. When many complaints have come, the home minister or the government cannot ignore them. We believe in the holiness of Dharmasthala more than you,” Shivakumar said in the Assembly this week.
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“A conspiracy has been hatched to destroy hundreds of years of legacy. It is not correct to tarnish someone just like that. It has all happened due to one complainant,” he alleged on Friday. “Many members have spoken about this issue. I have told them that action must be taken against those who are misleading the investigation. The CM has also said action must be taken. Dharma must not be tarnished. Culprits must be punished,” Shivakumar said.
“The home minister will explain it in detail (in the legislature). The law is the same for everyone; there is no attempt to protect anyone. No one’s reputation must be tarnished,” he added.
Conspiracy, says BJP
The Opposition BJP has alleged a conspiracy to malign the Dharmasthala temple through the probe. “There is suspicion of foreign funding for this, so hand over the investigation to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to detect the conspiring group,” the leader of the Opposition, R Ashok, told the Assembly on Thursday.
“When a complaint was filed claiming there are hundreds of skeletons in Dharmasthala, the Congress government immediately formed an SIT. Public money is being used to dig around. They are digging a hill to catch a mouse,” Ashok added.
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“Despite digging so much every day, nothing has been found. The police should have first investigated who filed the complaint. Who is that person? They should have checked his background. Instead, lakhs of rupees are being wasted. If it is about delivering justice in the Dharmasthala rape case, we all will support it. But under that pretext, Manjunatha Swami is being insulted,” Ashok argued.