BENGALURU: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Dharmasthala “mass burial” case in Karnataka has arrested the unidentified complainant, also referred to as the “masked man”, pseudonamed as “Bheema”, for allegedly taking the police on a wild goose chase where nothing concrete emerged, SIT sources confirmed on Saturday.
The Karnataka court, on Saturday, handed over the unidentified complainant to 10-day custody of the SIT for further inquiry into the matter. The SIT also submitted before the court that there was suspicion of involvement of more people behind the unidentified complainant. Following the court order, SIT sleuths brought him to their office, where the investigation is continuing.
Sources stated that the complainant was arrested on charges of providing false information (perjury) related to the Dharmasthala case. SIT officials, who interrogated him for more than 15 hours since Friday, concluded that he had been misleading the authorities all this while. Police sources said that the complainant has been identified as C.N. Chinnaiah, also known as Chenna, a native of Mandya—the son of Nanjayya, born on June 16, 1980.
He studied at Chikkaballi Government School in Mandya district, according to his transfer certificate, which also revealed that he left school in 1995. SIT chief, DGP Pronab Mohanty interrogated Chinnaiah himself and found several inconsistent statements with which he cornered him. Sources re – vealed that he claimed to have been lured by certain individuals who met him in 2023 and forced him to make allegations and press for a specific course of investigation, which he did. Following the serious claims made by the complainant, authorities had carried out exhumations and excavations at 16 different locations in the temple town of Dharmasthala.
On July 11, the complainant claimed that he had been forced by his supervisors to bury the bodies of women and minor girls who were raped and murdered in Dharmasthala, and recorded his statement before a magistrate. He requested that the bodies be exhumed in his presence and alleged that the victims bore clear signs of sexual assault. In addition, the so-called whistleblower submitted a skull, apparently recovered from one of the burial sites, to the magistrate. He was given protection under the Witness Protection Act, 2018 and facilities were extended that his identity remained anonymous, and that he couldn’t be taken to police custody or be arrested.
However, with him retracting his own statements to the SIT, the said “protection” given to the complainant has been revoked. On August 7, state Home Minister Parameshwara confirmed that the SIT probing the alleged mass grave case in the temple town of Dharmasthala in Mangaluru district has recovered a male skeleton and human bones from the marked burial sites, which have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL). He stated, “The unknown complainant claimed that he had buried dead bodies at 13 locations. Based on his revelations, the SIT excavated and exhumed the sites. At the sixth location, a male skeleton was recovered, and at the 13th point, nothing has been found yet. Apart from this, multiple bones were recovered from a new spot.”
“All these aspects are being taken into consideration, and the human remains have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory,” Parameshwara had said. All these developments come in the backdrop of the arrest of the prominent activist campaigning for “Justice for Soujanya”, Mahesh Shetty Thimmarody, who had been taken into custody after his Facebook posts that were termed derogatory by a senior BJP leader, B.L. Santhosh, who was a part of the delegation which had visited Dharmasthala along with 200 BJP MLAs and MLCs., They were showing their support and solidarity to the Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari (Chief Priest), Veerendra Hegde and reiterated that the entire state of Karnataka was standing by his side against this false propaganda. Besides this, Sujatha Bhat—a complainant who had alleged that her daughter Ananya Bhat, a first year MBBS student from the Kasturba Medical College had come to Dharmasthala in 2003 along with her classmates and went mysteriously missing—stated that she had been forced by a couple of activists to lodge the complaint.
They allegedly had promised her longstanding support for a property dispute she had with the Dharmasthala temple authorities. However, within hours of her retracting her statement, she went back to say that Ananya was indeed her daughter and she would record her statement with the SIT officials where she would reveal the actual truth.
According to police sources, Sujatha Bhat herself was on the Anti-Naxal Force’s radar as it was deemed that she had close contacts with Naxals in Dharmasthala. Her daughter Ananya was also under surveillance. Police sources said that there was no Ananya Bhat who was pursuing MBBS first year at the Kasturba Medical College in 2003. Meanwhile, the Dakshina Kannada police also have booked a Youtuber identified as Sameer, who had uploaded a video on his YouTube channel, Dhootha, which within hours created a stir on social media.
The video, which made provocative claims about hundreds of bodies allegedly buried in Dharmasthala, sparked widespread debate and outrage. The police have booked him for furnishing false statements. A police team from Dharmasthala had reached Sameer’s residence in Hulimavu, southeast Bengaluru near Bannerghatta, but he was not at home. However, Sameer has secured an anticipatory bail from the Mangaluru Sessions Court evading imminent arrest.
