Sujatha Bhat, whose account of a daughter who went missing in 2003 fuelled the growing controversy in Dharmasthala over allegations of mass burials, sexual assault, has taken another U-turn.
Bhat, on Friday, had retracted her claims and said that her story about her daughter was fabricated. Speaking to a YouTube channel, she revealed that she never had a daughter named Ananya Bhat.
She had claimed that she was persuaded by Girish Mattannavar and T Jayanti, two prominent activists in the case, to claim that her daughter Ananya had disappeared in Dharmasthala in 2003. According to her, she was asked her to do it due to her property dispute with the temple authorities.
However, on Saturday, she told NDTV that the YouTuber forced her to make the false claim that her daughter did not exist.
"It's true, I have a daughter. The YouTube channel made me say that (false claim) forcibly," she told the news channel when she was asked why she earlier denied having a daughter.
In her earlier statement, Sujatha had claimed that her daughter Ananya, then an 18-year-old medical student, vanished in May 2003 during a trip to Dharmasthala.
According to her account, Ananya’s friends had gone shopping while she remained near the temples, but when they returned, she had disappeared.
{{/usCountry}}According to her account, Ananya’s friends had gone shopping while she remained near the temples, but when they returned, she had disappeared.
{{/usCountry}}Sujatha told police that she herself had been abducted, tied up, and warned not to return to Dharmasthala or speak publicly about what had happened when she attempted to find out what had happened.
The origins of the case trace back to a sanitation worker in Dharmasthala who filed a police complaint on July 3, claiming to have buried the bodies of multiple women who were allegedly raped and murdered.
He was arrested by the SIT probing the case earlier today. Officials said the arrest followed inconsistencies in his statements and documents. He was also taken for a medical examination after the lengthy interrogation.
Police summon YouTuber
Meanwhile, the Karnataka Police have issued a notice to YouTuber M D Sameer, who is under the scanner of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in connection with the case.
Sameer has been directing to appear before the investigating officer on August 24, PTI reported on Saturday, citing officials.