Mangaluru: Over a decade after the brutal rape and murder of 17-year-old Sowjanya, justice remains out of reach for her family—and now, new explosive allegations have reignited outrage in Karnataka’s temple town of Dharmasthala.
In a shocking turn, Mahesh Shetty Timarody, former RSS and Hindu Jagarana Vedike activist, has called Sowjanya’s case “divine power revealing deep-rooted horror” in Dharmasthala. His remarks come as a Special Investigation Team (SIT) begins probing chilling claims of sexual assault and murder of multiple young women, allegedly covered up for years.
The SIT was formed following testimony from a whistleblower, claiming to be a former sanitation worker with the temple trust, who alleged he was forced to burn and bury over 100 bodies, many of them rape victims, between 1998 and 2014. Under tight security, the man appeared in court, completely veiled except for his eyes, reiterating his explosive claims.
These revelations come in the shadow of Sowjanya’s unresolved 2012 case, the first to trigger mass protests in Dharmasthala. A college student, Sowjanya went missing after returning from college. Her mutilated body was later found in a forest—clothes torn, undergarments missing. A man named Santhosh Rao was arrested but later acquitted in 2023 by a CBI court due to lack of evidence and major investigative lapses.
Despite the family’s persistent cries for justice and widespread public protest, the Karnataka High Court in 2024 rejected a plea for reinvestigation. With no convictions, and her father having died without closure, Sowjanya’s story now serves as a tragic emblem of systemic failure.
The lingering question haunts many:
If not Santhosh Rao, if not the others — then who killed Sowjanya?