Karnataka SIT forms 20-member team to investigate Dharmasthala

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) has formed a 20-member team to investigate the Dharmasthala mass burial case.

Transcript

00:00Mass parrils, sexual assaults, a former sanitation worker's claims cracked open a chilling mystery

00:21in Dharmsthala. And what followed only deepened the horror. A neat chore from Kerala's Kanur filed

00:26a complaint, demanding a fresh probe into the 2018 death of his father, KJ Joy. He believed

00:32it wasn't an accident, but murder. Anish said the Karnataka police had closed the case after

00:37tracing the vehicle involved within two days. But his family suspected the hand of a powerful

00:42figure in Dharmsthala. He named Subhash Chandra Jain, allegedly closed to dharma adhikari Virendra

00:47Hegde, accusing him of threatening his father for property.

00:58While Anish sought justice, a 39-year-old case resurfaced. Padma Lata, a college student

01:03from Bulyaru, Dakshina Kannada, had gone missing in December 1986. 56 days later, her skeletal

01:10remains were found in the Netravati River. The CID had investigated it back then, but closed

01:15the case as untraced. Now, with a mask risk claims grabbing headlines, her unsown murder

01:20is back in focus. Meanwhile, another old wound reopened. Protesters marched towards Dharmsthala

01:26on July 21, demanding justice for Saujanya, who was found dead near the town over a decade

01:31ago. They were stopped before entering, triggering a standoff. With the public pressure building,

01:35the Karnataka government set up a Special Investigation Team, or SIT, to probe the burial

01:40allegations. This came after a letter from the Karnataka State Commission for Women, citing

01:44a court testimony. A former sanitation worker had told the court that between 1995 and 2014,

01:50he was forced to dispose of multiple murder victims' bodies, some of whom he claimed had been

01:55sexually assaulted. The SIT was tasked with investigating not just this case, but any

02:00linked ones across the state. It was to report directly to the DGP and operate out of Dakshina

02:05Kannada Police Office. But even before the SIT could gain traction, one of its key officers,

02:10IPS officer Soumya Lata, indicated she may step down from the probe. At the same time,

02:15Harshindra Kumar, brother of Virendra Hegade, secured a court order to take down over 8,800 online

02:20links covering the allegations. The injunction also barred any publication or circulation of

02:25defamatory content against him, his family, institutions tied to the Dharamsala temple,

02:30across digital, print or social media, until further notice. As more families step forward

02:35and old cases resurface, the truth buried beneath Dharamsala is slowly being dug out. Whether justice

02:41will follow or be buried again remains to be seen.