Dharmasthala Case: Protected Witness Alleges SIT Officer Coerced Retraction

Mangaluru:The protected witness in the Dharmasthala secret burial case, now identified as V, has alleged that an SIT officer threatened him and forced him to make statements on camera retracting and disowning his complaint and to implicate outsiders as responsible for his complaint.

In a mail to the SIT, advocate Ananya — representing the witness whose identity has been concealed due to security reasons — alleged that on the evening of August 1, police officer Manjunath Gowda summoned the witness to a closed room at the SIT camp in Belthangady. Gowda allegedly warned V of “dire consequences” for filing the complaint, telling him that he would be taken into custody and jailed.

The mail alleged that with these threats, Gowda had coerced 'V' to make statements on camera to retract and disown his complaint and to implicate outsiders as responsible for his complaint.

The mail also stated that the witness stated that Gowda recorded his coerced statements on his mobile phone.

The advocate requested the immediate exclusion or removal of Gowda from the SIT. The SIT is yet to make any statement on this.

Meanwhile, no human remains were found at two sites excavated on Saturday, the fifth consecutive day of digging at locations identified by V. The source had pointed to 13 spots near the Netravathi river in Dharmasthala where he claimed the bodies of murder and sexual assault victims were buried. Ten spots have been dug so far, and skeletal remains were recovered from the sixth spot on Thursday.

A shade net was put up at the sites and a mini‑excavator was used for the digging. While the digging at point 9 was carried out under clear skies, the team had to continue the work at point 10 amid rain.