Dharmasthala secret burials probe: forum alleges political pressure, witness intimidation
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A collective of writers, lawyers, activists, and civil society members has urged the Karnataka government to ensure that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) investigating the Dharmasthala secret burials case functions without political or institutional influence.
In a statement issued after a meeting on Thursday, the forum expressed concern that “vested political interests, including BJP and feudal powers,” were attempting to derail the SIT inquiry. “Attempts are being made to intimidate complainants and witnesses and to discredit them publicly,” the statement read.
The group also demanded that BJP leaders and their affiliates “must stop threatening the complainants and interfering in the SIT investigation,” stressing that filing false cases or harassing human rights defenders and complainants must cease immediately.
Among the resolutions adopted, the forum called for the reopening of four unsolved cases from 1979, 1986, and 2012, either under the current SIT’s jurisdiction or by forming a separate investigative team.
Another resolution sought a probe into alleged land grabbing in Dharmasthala and nearby villages in Dakshina Kannada district, claiming that powerful interests were suppressing landowners’ rights.
These demands come amid discussions in the Karnataka legislature during the Monsoon Session, where BJP legislators alleged that the case was being politicised to malign Dharmasthala.
The SIT was constituted on July 19 after a whistleblower, a former sanitation worker, lodged a police complaint stating that between 1998 and 2014, he was coerced into burying bodies of suspected sexual assault victims and threatened against approaching the authorities.
