Govt has asked SIT to expedite investigation, says home minister
Karnataka's home minister urges the SIT to expedite its probe into serious allegations of murders and rapes in Dharmasthala
Karnataka home minister G Parameshwara on Tuesday said that the government has instructed the special investigation team (SIT) investigating allegations of multiple murders, rapes and burials in Dharmasthala to expedite the probe, while simultaneously emphasising the need to thoroughly verify all evidence as valid.
“SIT is doing its job. The forensic lab reports have to arrive. The recently discovered materials have been sent to the forensic labs. We have asked them to finalise and send the reports on what was found earlier. We have told the SIT to complete the probe at the earliest,” Parameshwara told reporters in Bengaluru.
The case gained widespread attention after a complainant, later identified as C.N. Chinnaiah and arrested for perjury, alleged that he had buried several bodies, including women showing signs of sexual assault, in Dharmasthala over two decades. Chinnaiah also implicated local temple administrators in the purported crimes.
The SIT has conducted extensive searches across multiple forested sites along the Netravathi River, recovering skeletal remains at two locations. Earlier this month, additional remains were found near the Banglegudde forest area close to the Netravathi bathing ghat.
Regarding a Supreme Court order from May, which dismissed a writ petition filed by Chinnaiah and others, Parameshwara noted that the SIT could take the ruling into account in their final report.
In a related development, the Karnataka High Court has stayed an externment order against Mahesh Shetty Thimarodi for one year, preventing his forced relocation from Dakshina Kannada district to Manvi taluk of Raichur. Thimarodi, who had previously gone missing after the order was issued by Puttur assistant commissioner Stella Varghese, now faces no coercive action until October 8.
(With PTI inputs)
