Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Tuesday said that a Special Investigation Team (SIT), which was formed to investigate reports of mass burials in Dharmasthala in the Dakshina Kannada district, will be going there soon to start the inquiry. The SIT, led by Pronab Mohanty, Director General of Police (Internal Security Division), includes Deputy Inspector General of Police (Recruitment) MN Anucheth and IPS officers Soumyalatha SK and Jitendra Kumar Dayama.
IPS officer Soumyalatha is likely to inform the government that she does not want to continue in the SIT.
"We have already instructed them (SIT) to proceed there (Dharmasthala) immediately. They will start (the probe) based on the records available in the police station. Instructions have been sent to the local police also from the DG to hand over the concerned records and documents to the SIT. Most likely Mohanty (head of SIT) and his team will proceed there within a couple of days and they will start their job," Parameshwara added.
Replying to a query on rumours doing the rounds that two SIT officers were wishing to quit due to personal reasons, he clarified that if any member of the team requests not to be its member for reasons and succeeds in persuading, then they shall be replaced.
"For the time being, all four of them are included in the team. Yesterday I heard some media reports, but not to me. If anyone from the team has sought the DG or the Commissioner, they will be substituted," he added.
The SIT was formed by the government on charges of suspected mass murder, rape, and mass burials in Dharmasthala, during the last two decades.
Also read: Karnataka govt forms SIT in Dharmasthala burial case
Meanwhile, weeks following mass burial claims, Dharmasthala temple authorities came out in a statement on July 20, spokesperson K Parshwanath Jain stated, "A recent case has been registered at the Dharmasthala police station alleging that some dead bodies were buried, which has created widespread debate, speculations, and confusion at the national level. Given our hope, as well as that of the public at large, for a transparent and impartial investigation, it is that the State Government has handed over the case to a Special Investigation Team.
He, further, added, "Belief and truth are the best basis for ethics and faith of a society. Hence, it is our genuine hope and serious demand that the SIT makes the highest order inquiry in this matter and brings out real facts into the open."
A former sweeper, whose name has not been disclosed, has alleged that he used to work in Dharmasthala between 1995 and 2014, and that he had to bury several bodies, including those of women and children, in Dharmasthala.
He had alleged that some bodies had evidence of sexual abuse. He has also recorded his statement before a magistrate in this context.
In response to a query regarding a claimed report submitted to the government in 2018 concerning unnatural deaths in Belthangady (the taluk under which Dharmasthala falls) and nothing was done on that basis, the home minister replied he did not know anything about it. But he gave a commitment that he would check if such a report is officially present.
"Who presented the report, I do not know. Who was on the committee? Who made up the committee? Was it government-authorised? Or was it a private one? Nothing is known. If any report has officially come to the government and if it has been government-authorised, then it will be scrutinised," he replied.
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