Dharmasthala mass burial case: SIT submits report to Karnataka court, names six as accused
MANGALURU: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) investigating the alleged mass burial case has filed a report under section 215 of the BNSS to a Belthangady court naming the 45-year-old witness-complainant and five others -- Mahesh Shetty Timarodi, Girish Mattannavar, Vittal Gowda, Jayant T and Sujatha Gowda -- as accused.
An officer associated with the investigation, on the condition of anonymity, said that the report consists of 3923 pages containing all details from the witness-complainant's initial allegations of mass burial, the perjury case and all related developments that have taken place till now.
"In perjury case, court is the aggrieved party and through this report submission, we are praying to the court to initiate the further proceedings under section 379 of BNSS," the officer said.
The officer stated that the court may approach another court or take this report as a chargesheet and initiate action.
"Court may take statement of ours and the accused or enquire further, it is upto the court now. According to us, we have given six names in which 4 are named as conspirators (Mahesh Shetty Timarodi, Girish Mattannavar, Vittal Gowda and Jayanth T). Examination of accused and few others involved is pending. In perjury section, we cannot file chargesheet and court can consider this report only as the chargesheet," the officer said.
The witness-complainant, a former sanitation worker who is currently in Shivamogga prison in perjury case had claimed that he was coerced into burying the bodies of victims of alleged rape and murders a decade ago in Dharmasthala village in Belthangady taluk.
Following his complaint, a case was registered and the SIT headed by DGP Pronab Mohanty and Jitendra Kumar Dayama as the investigating officer, was formed which has collected crucial evidence. 17 alleged burial sites were dug for any human remains and the SIT had recovered some human remains of which final FSL report is still awaited.
