MANGALURU: The legal counsel representing Sujatha Bhat, mother of Ananya Bhat, an MBBS student, who went missing under mysterious circumstances in Dharmasthala a decade ago, has urged the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to use Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) at locations already identified and excavated by the witness-complainant in the Dharmasthala mass burial case.
Advocate N Manjunath in a press note said, “As the witness himself has stated, he left Dharmasthala in 2014. The Dharmasthala region experiences heavy rainfall and there is a high possibility of soil shifting and accumulation from one place to another.
Since considerable changes have occurred in the forest area over approximately 11 years, there is a high probability that the landmarks the witness had relied on in his memory may have changed or shifted. Therefore, as we previously petitioned on July 29, 2025, we request the deployment of the most advanced GPR to detect skeletal remains at the already excavated locations and in the surrounding areas,” he said.
He requested the SIT that the GPR units, which are comparable in size to machines used for clearing grass and weeds, be deployed to detect skeletal remains at the already excavated locations. He also commended the SIT for the ongoing excavation process. “Many experts anticipate that the SIT, led by Pronab Mohanty, will go for GPR technology. We have faith and confidence that the state government and CM Siddaramaiah will support the SIT in deploying GPRs,” he said.