Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara announced on Monday that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) handling the Dharmasthala “mass burial” case has been vested with police station powers. This enables anyone with related complaints to approach the SIT directly for registration, bypassing local police stations.
The SIT, formed by the state government, is probing grave allegations of mass killings, sexual assaults, and large-scale burials in Dharmasthala spanning nearly two decades. The key complainant—a former sanitation worker whose identity remains confidential—claims to have been employed in Dharmasthala between 1995 and 2014, during which he was allegedly coerced into burying multiple bodies, including those of women and minors. He further alleged that some victims bore signs of sexual assault, details he has reportedly recorded before a magistrate.
Parameshwara told reporters, “We have empowered the SIT with police station authority so that citizens can file complaints directly with them.” He declined to elaborate on the ongoing probe, stressing that conclusions would be drawn only after the SIT’s final report. According to him, the complainant initially pointed out 13 suspected sites, a number that has since risen to between 16 and 19.
As part of its search operations, the SIT has been scouring forested areas and riverbanks along the Netravathi in Dharmasthala. Investigators have so far discovered skeletal remains at two separate locations.