Dharmasthala Case: Whistleblower Arrested

Mangaluru: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged secret burials in Dharmasthala arrested the whistleblower in the case on charges of perjury on Saturday.

The accused, who had claimed to have worked in Dharmasthala between 1995 and 2014, filed a complaint on July 3 stating that he had been forced to dispose of the bodies of people who were allegedly victims of crimes such as murder and sexual assault. On July 11, he appeared before a magistrate, recorded his statement and handed over skeletal remains that he said he had exhumed himself.

According to sources, he had initially claimed the remains belonged to a woman. However, a forensic science laboratory (FSL) report later confirmed the remains to be male, prompting investigators to book him for perjury.

The whistleblower had been under the Witness Protection Scheme since his complaint, but the protection was withdrawn on Friday night before he was taken in for questioning. He was formally arrested on Saturday.

The SIT was constituted by the state government following the sanitation worker’s allegations that multiple bodies had been buried secretly in Dharmasthala. Investigators have so far conducted excavations at 17 different sites. Human remains have been found only at two locations — Spot No. 6 and beneath a tree near Spot No. 11.