MANGALURU: Vittal Gowda, uncle of the late Sowjanya, who was raped and murdered in 2012, has claimed that multiple human remains were found during the spot mahazar conducted by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) at Banglegudde.
The SIT had conducted mahazar with Gowda at two spots at Banglegudde from where the skull produced as evidence in the court by the witness-complainant was picked up from.
In a video, Gowda is seen telling, “When I was taken for spot mahazar twice at Banglegudde, human skeletal remains belonging to three persons were found in 10- ft distance. In the second spot, there were multiple human remains and I could see at least 5 human remains. I suspect there were also bones belonging to a child. Black magic items like a small ‘kalasha’ were also found. Human remains were seen popping out of the soil dumped on it. Bones were spread out in the spot and I brought it to the notice of the officers present. However, the remains were not seized from there. I am ready if the SIT calls me for questioning in this regard anytime.”
An SIT officer, however, told TNIE on condition of anonymity, “We have not recovered any remains during the mahazar. After Vittal Gowda claimed that he had picked up the skull produced as evidence by witness-complainant from a spot in Banglegudde, we conducted mahazar on September 6. On Wednesday, we conducted mahazar of a spot where Vittal claims to have hidden the skull after picking up from the original spot. The video circulated later was of the second spot where Gowda hid the skull for a few days.”
Gowda, however, repeated the claims to TNIE. “Whatever I said in the video is true. Even the SIT has taken videos of the human remains found there.” On Thursday, the SIT had summoned activists Girish Mattannavar, Jayant T and Vittal Gowda for questioning.
An SIT source told TNIE that Vittal Gowda told the investigators that he was instructed by Girish Mattennavar to pick up the skull.
Meanwhile, Sowjanya campaign activist Mahesh Shetty Thimarody visited the SIT office to file a formal complaint regarding the Unnatural Death Register (UDR) case linked to the Dharmasthala region on Thursday night. He said he has submitted key materials related to the suspicious deaths.
