One of the complainants had claimed her daughter went missing in 2003 during a visit to the temple town and linked the incident to larger crimes.
The complainant who alleged multiple murders, rapes and mass burials in Dharmasthala over the past two decades has been arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case, official sources said on Saturday.
The complainant, a former sanitation worker who claimed to have worked in Dharmasthala between 1995 and 2014, was questioned by SIT chief Pranab Mohanty and his team till late Friday night. Officials said the arrest followed inconsistencies in his statements and documents. He was also taken for a medical examination after the lengthy interrogation.
In his complaint, the worker alleged that he had been forced to bury numerous bodies, including those of women and minors, some of which bore signs of sexual assault. He had also recorded a statement before a magistrate and pointed investigators to forested sites along the Netravathi River where excavations were carried out. Skeletal remains were recovered at two such sites, though forensic confirmation is awaited.
The allegations had intensified after a separate set of claims by Sujatha Bhat, a woman who said her daughter went missing in Dharmasthala in 2003. Bhat later retracted her charges, admitting they were linked to a property dispute with temple authorities, and apologised publicly.
Karnataka home minister G Parameshwara recently told the Assembly that only excavations had been carried out so far and the SIT would decide on the need for further digging. He also warned that action could be taken under the law if the allegations were proven false.
What is the case?
Bhat first came into the spotlight after she claimed her daughter, Ananya, an 18-year-old medical student, went missing during a visit to Dharmasthala in May 2003. She alleged that when Ananya’s friends returned from shopping near the temple complex, her daughter had vanished. Bhat later said she was abducted, tied up and warned not to speak publicly about the disappearance. She further claimed she had been assaulted, left in a coma, and treated at a private hospital in Bengaluru before recovering a month later.
Her account, which included accusations of mass burials and sexual assault linked to the temple authorities, fuelled public outrage and protests. The allegations became serious enough for the Karnataka government to constitute an SIT to probe the case.
On Friday, however, Bhat retracted her claims in an interview with a YouTube channel, saying her story was fabricated. “Some people told me to say it. I was asked to do it because of the property issue. That’s the only reason,” she said. The property dispute involves land owned by her grandfather, which she claims was taken over by the Dharmasthala temple authorities.
Bhat alleged that activists Girish Mattannavar and T Jayanti encouraged her to repeat the story, but insisted no money was exchanged. “Nobody demanded money from me. I have never asked anyone for money either. What I questioned was how my grandfather’s property was given away without my signature,” she explained.
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