Karnataka government forms SIT to probe allegations on Dharmasthala mass burials, mother of missing girl lodges complaint after former sanitation worker made shocking claims

In the latest development in the Dharmasthala mass burial case, the Karnataka government ordered the formation of an SIT headed by the Director General of Police (Internal Security Division), Pronab Mohanty, on 19th July. He will be assisted by Deputy Inspector General of Police (Recruitment) M N Anucheth and IPS officers Soumyalatha S K and Jitendra Kumar Dayama.

According to S Ambika, Under Secretary to the Government, Home Department, the government has ordered the formation of the SIT for a comprehensive investigation into the case.

The SIT was formed after the State Commission for Women called for an SIT probe into the allegations relating to the discovery of numerous human skeletons at Dharmasthala in Karnataka. On 14th July, the Chairperson of the Karnataka State Commission for Women wrote a letter seeking an investigation led by senior police officers into the cases of missing female students and women, unnatural deaths, murders and rapes reported in the last two decades. All related criminal cases reported in all police stations across the state will be transferred to the SIT.

Background of the case

The case caught attention after an unknown man, who later turned out to be a former sanitation worker employed by the Lord Manjunatha shrine in Dharmasthala, filed a complaint with the police claiming that he was forced to bury dead bodies of women and minor girls in Dharmsthala. His complaint was followed by another complaint filed by a woman named Sujatha, whose daughter had gone missing while on a trip to the pilgrimage town of Dharmasthala.

On June 3, 2025, the former sanitation worker submitted a complaint to the police, accompanied by photo evidence of skeletal remains. In his complaint, the former sanitation worker claimed that he was forced to bury hundreds of bodies of murder victims, including women and young girls, many of whom were sexually assaulted, between 1998 and 2014. “Many of the female bodies were without clothing or underwear. Some bore clear signs of sexual assault and violence: wounds or strangulation that indicated violence… More than 100 women, including students, were raped, murdered and buried…,” wrote the former sanitation worker in his complaint.

About a week after filing the complaint, the former sanitation worker appeared before a court, covered head to toe to conceal his identity, to testify to the allegations made in his complaint. He claimed that the culprits were influential people linked to the temple administration.

His complaint was followed by another complaint filed on 15th July, by Sujatha, the mother of a first-year MBBS student named Ananya Bhat, who went missing in 2003 during a college trip to Dharmasthala. 60-year-old Sujatha believes that her daughter might be among the victims mentioned in the former sanitation worker’s testimony.

Chilling details about victims

The former sanitation worker, who worked for the Dharmasthala temple administration between 1995 and 2014, has revealed some chilling details relating to the murder victims that he claims to have buried. He said that in 2010, he was forced to bury a school girl, aged 12-15 years, near a petrol bunk in Kalleri. He added that the girl was wearing a school uniform, but her skirt and undergarments were missing, and her body bore marks of sexual assault and strangulation.

Talking about another victim, the former sanitation worker recalled that she was a 20-year-old woman whose face was burned with acid, and her body was wrapped in newspapers. He said that he was instructed to burn her body using diesel. He revealed that he had instructed to bury some of the bodies on the bank of the Netravathi River so that the bodies would not be detected and decompose fast due to the damp soil.

He alleged that he was forced to bury or burn the dead bodies of all those victims and was threatened with death if he did not comply. He said that he fled Dharmasthala in December 2014 after a minor girl in his family was sexually assaulted by someone connected to his supervisors. After fleeing, he spent many years in hiding in neighbouring states. He claimed that he had returned because of a deep sense of guilt and that he needed closure. “If the bodies that are being exhumed are given a proper funeral, the souls of those who have suffered will find peace and my sense of guilt will also be reduced… I believe the deceased deserves a respectful farewell…” he said in his complaint.

He has sought protection under the Witness Protection Act, 2018 and offered to cooperate in the investigation of the case by identifying the burial sites and the names of the culprits.

Sujata Bhatt said that her daughter Ananya Bhatt, a medical student from Manipal, went missing in 2003 after visiting Dharmasthala. When she visited the place in search of her daughter, locals said that they saw the girl with some temple officials. However, when she approached the police, her complaint was ignored. After that she was abducted by three man, and was assaulted rendering her unconscious. She said that she woke up in a Bengaluru hospital 3 months later.

Despite being an employee at CBI, she didn’t get any support from authorities. She has now demanded DNA analysis of the discovered skeletons to identify the body of her daughter.

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