MANGALURU: In a spine-chilling revelation, a Dalit man, a former sanitation employee with the Dharmasthala temple administration, has confessed to the Dakshina Kannada police that he was forced to burn and bury the bodies of several women, including schoolgirls, who were raped and murdered in Dharmasthala and surrounding areas between 1998 and 2014.
The person claimed that he has come forward after almost a decade now due to remorse and to ensure justice for the rape-and-murder victims.
Dakshina Kannada SP Arun K told TNIE that a case has been registered at the Dharmasthala police station based on the complaint on July 3 under Section 211(a) of the BNS. “The person has requested not to reveal his identity and after obtaining necessary permission from the court, we registered a case,” the SP said.
The whistleblower has also sought protection for him and his family. The details of the complaint were released by advocates Ojaswi Gowda and Sachin Deshpande, who are representing the whistleblower.
He claimed that along with his complaint, he has also submitted the photographs of the remains of the bodies he had buried to the police that he had recently exhumed.
“I request the police to exhume the remains of bodies buried by me. About 11 years ago, I left Dharmasthala along with my family and hid ourselves and lived in a neighbouring state. We are haunted daily that we will also be killed. I was born into a lower caste family and I worked as a sanitation worker from 1995 to December 2014 under Dharmasthala temple. I used to take up cleaning work in and around the Nethravathi river," he said.
"Initially I saw many bodies and assumed that they might be of victims of suicide or accidental drowning. Majority of the bodies were of women and most of them were without clothes. Some of the bodies had signs of sexual assault and violence including strangling and other wounds. In 1998, my supervisor directed me to secretly dispose of the bodies. When I refused and told him I would report it to the police, I was assaulted brutally,” he stated in his complaint.
‘They threatened to kill me and my family’
My supervisor used to invite me to specific places where bodies were found and several of them were of minor girls. One incident has haunted me forever. A girl between 12 and 15 years was found lying dead about 500 metres away from a petrol bunk at Kalleri in 2010. She was wearing a school uniform and her skirt and innerwear were missing and she had marks of sexual assault and strangulation.
I was asked to dig a pit and bury her along with her schoolbag. In another case, a 20-year-old woman’s face was burnt with acid and her body was wrapped with newspaper and I was asked to burn her body. I was a witness to murders of homeless men and beggars in Dharmasthala area. I was forced to bury several bodies and also burn some o f them, ” the whistleblower stated in his complaint. He further stated, “In 2014, one of the minor girls in my family was also sexually harassed by a person known to my supervisor. We decided to escape and I ran away with my family from Dharmasthala. Since then we have been living in the neighbouring state hiding our identities and changing houses.
"My intention is to reveal the victims and perpetrators behind those killings. Recently I went to Dharmasthala and secretly exhumed the remains of a body. Pictures were taken and they have been submitted to the police," he explained.
The person said he is ready to cooperate with the police and is willing to show to investigators the places where the bodies are buried.
“The accused are those associated with the Dharmasthala temple administration and other staff. They used to threaten and torture me to bury the bodies.The accused are very influential and they get rid of those who oppose them. I am ready to reveal their names and their roles once I and my family get protection under the Witness Protection Scheme, 2018, and I am ready for the polygraph or any other test to establish the truth. The bodies buried deserve respectful final rites,” he urged.
The complainant stated that he submitted the complaint copy to Supreme Court lawyer KV Dhananjay to protect the truth in case he is murdered or unavailable before he could reveal the names of the accused. The complainant has also submitted a copy of his Aadhaar card, ID card provided to him by the Dharmasthala administration and his voter ID registered in Dharmasthala-Belthangady