BENGALURU: A sanitation worker, who had claimed to have buried bodies of victims at Dharmasthala, moved the Karnataka High Court, seeking directions to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to file a final report in the crime registered before the Dharmasthala police station. He also sought action against conspirators, including individuals, YouTubers and others named in the preliminary enquiry report, and to consider the complaint dated December 18, 2025.
He alleged that activist Girish Mattannavar dialled actor Prakash Raj’s number and handed over the phone to him. The actor, who spoke in Tamil, told him to tell the authorities whatever Mattannavar had instructed him to and promised to come and hug him.
The petitioner also alleged Mahesh Shetty Thimarodi informed him that the ‘plan budget’ (to execute the conspiracy) was approximately Rs 200 crore and promised him Rs 50 lakh if he cooperated and ensured that Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari Veerendra Heggade was sent to prison.
At one point, the petitioner said he asked Thimarodi and Mattannavar about their source of income to file such a frivolous litigation.
Initially, they were reluctant and did not disclose the source. But later on, they told him that they were receiving funds from Kerala and their major source of income is from a woman in Chitradurga, who used to send funds to trigger disturbance at the holy town.
‘Court must direct SIT to speed up investigation’
Accusing SIT of failing to file the final report even months after his complaint against the conspirators, the petitioner prayed the court to direct SIT to complete the investigation expeditiously and submit the final report to the jurisdictional court in Belthangady. Justice Suraj Govindaraj on Thursday 11 issued notices to the state government, SIT and others, and adjourned the hearing to June 29.
Narrating in detail the developments from 2014 to 2024, including bringing him back from Tamil Nadu to Dharmasthala, with elaborate details of alleged conspiracy, the petitioner accused Vittal Gowda, Thimarodi, Mattannavar, Jayanth, YouTubers and several others behind the conspiracy hatched to target Dharmasthala and Heggade.
Stating that he was forced to give statements to YouTubers as instructed by the conspirators, the petitioner alleged that he was also prepared as to how to give a statement before the court. The sanitation worker alleged that he was subjected to severe intimidation, physical and mental harassment. He alleged that Mattannavar summoned his son-in-law, son of his sister-in-law and kept them at Thimarodi’s residence for two days. Mattannavar threatened him that the two would be killed.
At times, both Mattannavar and Thimarodi abused and assaulted him, he alleged. Thimarodi threatened to kill him for showing places different from what he suggested originally to search for skeletons, the petitioner alleged.
The petitioner stated that with repeated and forceful instructions piled on him, he could not bring himself to give false evidence against Dharmasthala, where he was staying at. The petitioner also stated that he tried to commit suicide as he believed that some harm could be done to Heggade because of his false statement.
But Mattannavar and his associates stopped him from dying by suicide, assaulted him and told him that if he died there would be no one left to give the false evidence they required. He informed SIT about the conspiracy, and later he was produced before the magistrate to record his statement, where he disclosed the conspiracy hatched and narrated how it was exploited and misused.
He was then sent to judicial custody, and an FIR was registered. After being released on December 18, 2025, he lodged a complaint at the Dharmasthala police station against the conspirators and their associates. But no action was initiated, the petitioner alleged.