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Dharmasthala SIT submits probe report to local court
The SIT investigating a disputed skull in Dharmasthala has submitted a detailed report to court, naming six individuals linked to false testimony.
The special investigation Team investigating the disputed skull found in Dharmasthala has submitted at detailed investigation report to a Belthangady court.
Officials said the SIT on Thursday placed before the court an extensive account of its findings, including statements from six individuals it has identified in connection with the false testimony that triggered the probe.
Those named include CN Chinnaiah, who first approached police claiming to have buried multiple bodies in Dharmasthala, as well as Mahesh Shetty Thimmarodi, Girish Mattannavar and Sujatha Bhat, among others.
The submission forms part of a perjury case filed under BNSS 215 and spans roughly 4,000 pages. A separate preliminary charge sheet totalling 3,932 pages across seven files was also filed by Investigating Officer Jitendra Kumar Dayama. “It outlines searches conducted at 17 locations, records statements from those allegedly in contact with Chinnaiah and discusses what the SIT describes as a conspiracy involving several of the accused,” said an officer in the know of the development.
SIT officials have additionally informed the court that some of the individuals named obstructed the inquiry when summoned.
At the heart of the case is a skull produced in 2025, which Chinnaiah claimed he had exhumed himself. According to the SIT, he later admitted the skull had been handed to him by others to reinforce his allegations. In his revised account, he identified Mahesh, Girish and several associates as those who supplied the remains.
Thimmarodi, a former member of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad who later founded the Rashtriya Hindu Jagarana Vedike, has long been associated with the Justice for Sowjanya campaign, which seeks justice for a teenager raped and murdered in 2012. Mattannavar, a former police officer, has worked with Thimmarodi in the same campaign. Vittal Gowda, Sowjanya’s uncle, has also been involved in related advocacy. Another accused, Jayan T, is a relative of Padmalatha, a 17-year-old who was found dead in 1986 after going missing in Dharmasthala.
Investigators said their complaint report traces how the skull reached Chinnaiah. They found that Vittal retrieved it from Bangalagudda in February 2024 and recorded the act on video, which was allegedly passed to Mattannavar.
In recent weeks, the SIT excavated part of Banglagudda hill and recovered eight skulls and additional skeletal remains from a site known to several residents, including Vittal. The remains have been sent for forensic examination. Investigators also found identification cards belonging to UB Ayyappa of T Shettigeri village in Kodagu and Adishesha Narayana of Gubbi in Tumakuru.
