Persevering with its probe into the alleged secret burials at Dharmasthala, the Particular Investigation Staff (SIT) on Wednesday questioned one of many complainants within the case, Sujatha Bhat, who claimed that her daughter had gone lacking on the temple city in 2003.
The SIT questioned Sujatha Bhat for the second day in a row. On August 22, she advised a YouTube channel that the declare about her daughter going lacking was a fabricated one, solely to flip-flop hours later, saying that she had been pressured to make the assertion by a lawyer.
The lady filed a criticism on July 11 with the Dakshina Kannada police, requesting them to seek out the skeletal stays of her daughter.
This got here days after a whistleblower, now recognized as C N Chinnaiah, alleged that he had been pressured to bury a number of our bodies round Dharmasthala between 1998 and 2014 and was warned towards approaching the police.
After two weeks of excavations, the SIT recovered the stays of two skeletons. On August 23, Chinnaiah was arrested for allegedly giving false data and was remanded to judicial custody for 10 days. The SIT searched the home of Mahesh Shetty Thimarody, the right-wing activist behind the Justice for Sowjanya motion, on Tuesday in reference to the Dharmasthala case.
Commenting on the developments, one other activist concerned within the case, Girish Mattannavar, mentioned in a video message that Chinnaiah had didn’t determine all areas on account of worry. “Somebody has misled him,” he mentioned. On the controversy over Chinnaiah staying at Shetty’s home earlier than his arrest, he mentioned that the whistleblower had voluntarily determined to remain there.
The Opposition BJP accuses the Congress Authorities of being a part of a conspiracy to defame Dharmasthala. The occasion has scheduled an enormous rally within the temple city for September 1, demanding a probe by the Nationwide Investigation Company within the case.