As the so-called mass burial at Dharmasthala in Karnataka is turning out to be a big hoax, politics have heated up on the issue in the state. After excavations by the SIT formed by the state government didn’t find any remains of woman allegedly buried after rape and murder, BJP has started demanding action against defaming the temple, while the ruling Congress has accused BJP of playing politics, while also assuring action against false complaints.
However, one thing is clear, there was no mass-burial of young women and minor girls after alleged rape and murder at Dharmasthala, as alleged by an unknown ‘masked man’.
The case started after the unknown man claimed that he was former sanitation worker employed by the Lord Manjunatha shrine in Dharmasthala, and that he was forced to bury dead bodies of women and minor girls in Dharmasthala. He lodged a complaint with the police on 3rd June with some ‘evidence’, and a week later, he appeared before a court covered head to toe to conceal his identity, to testify to the allegations made in his complaint. He submitted some skeletal remains he claimed to have exhumed from one of the burial sites.
The ’masked man’ had alleged that he was forced to burry a large number of young women and minor girls after they were allegedly killed at Dharmasthala between 1995 and 2014. Following this, another complaint was filed by a woman whose daughter had gone missing while on a trip to the pilgrimage town of Dharmasthala.
Given the seriousness of the allegations, the Karnataka government ordered the formation of an SIT to probe the case on 19 July. The ‘masked man’ gave the SIT the locations of 13 ‘burial sites’, and the SIT started excavating at those places.
And as the SIT excavated one after another site, the entire case started to fall apart, as nothing was found at those places. The skull that the man had submitted at the court turned up to belong to a man. The skull was examined at two hospitals, and both tests confirmed that it belonged to a man who died 30 years ago.
Few bone fragments were found at only one place, which belong to a man. Some ID cards found at another place also belonged to a man who died of illness.
After the excavations failed to find anything, the SIT started using ground penetrating radar on the demand of the ‘masked man’, but there was no success. As per reports, the SIT has dug 17 sites, and bone fragments have been found at only 1 site, spot number 6. As per forensic doctors, those skeletal remains are of a male.
The ‘masked man’ claimed that 60-100 bodies were buried at site number 13 at the depth of 16 feet. The SIT used Ground Penetrating Radar, which detected nothing. When the site was excavated, nothing was found.
The behaviour of the ‘masked man’ has grown more suspicious gradually. When the SIT team was digging site 11 as shown by the witness, he suddenly ‘remembered’ that the actual site is some distance away. He led the team to a spot around 150 metres way, where as many as 81 bones lying on the ground, not buried.
However, as per experts, prima facie these bones also came from a male body. Male garments and a red saree hanging from a tree was found, indicating it to be suicide case. Nothing was found when they dug the place.
After finding nothing despite digging 17 sites, the SIT has decided not to excavate all the sites mentioned by the man. They will dig few more sites where he alleged mass burials. A site mentioned by another complainant, who said he witnessed the burial of a 13-year-old girl, will also be examined.
The SIT has already filed FIR of unnatural deaths for skeletal remains found at two places, and are probing the cases, along with the case of missing girl Ananya Bhat as per her mother’s complaint.
The twist in the case has led to protests by devotees demanding action against the ‘masked man’ and others who supported his allegations for defaming Dharmasthala. As a result, the state government has promised action for propaganda.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Friday said that the conspiracy to tarnish Dharmasthala’s image will come to light through the ongoing investigation. He also said that strict action would be taken if the allegations of “mass burial” in Dharmasthala are found to be false.
He also accused BJP of using the case for political purposes, questioning why the party was silent when the allegations were first emerged. “The BJP did not say a word when the ‘maskman’ lodged a complaint, but now they are trying to play politics over it. They think that Hinduism is their private property and they need Dharmasthala only for political gains,” he said.
Notably, BJP held a massive rally on Saturday to the Dharmasthala temple, demanding action against conspirators. The party said that there is a massive false propaganda to defame the temple using the ‘mass burial’ allegations.
BJP leader SR Vishwanath said the party didn’t said anything in the beginning because they assumed that there might be some truth in his allegations. But now that the excavations have found no mass burials, the party has decided to “stand in support of Dharmasthala kshetra against false propaganda,” he said.
The ‘masked man’ is currently under witness protection. In an interview with India Today, he claimed that no bodies were recovered because earth had moved due to natural reasons or infrastructure work.
