Dharamsthala, Dakshina Kannada – The Special Investigation Team (SIT) has found partial human remains at the sixth site they have dug up in the ongoing Dharmasthala mass grave case. This is a major step forward. This discovery, uncovered on Thursday, July 31, 2025, at the bathing ghat of the Nethravati River in the temple town of Dharmasthala, could be the first solid proof in the scary probe.
The SIT has been methodically digging at places that the complainant, a former sanitation worker, pointed out since taking over the investigation from the local police on July 25. The sixth site, however, revealed results after five others failed to do so. This is the first major breakthrough in a case that has shocked Karnataka. Forensic teams have gathered the bones, which were located around four feet deep, for a thorough assessment, including an examination by the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL). Early indications say that the remains might be male.
The Shocking Claims
The case about the mass burial in Dharmasthala started with a First Information Report (FIR) filed on July 4 by a former sanitation worker. His name is still kept secret for his protection. He said in his horrifying accusation that he was forced to bury several dead, including those of women and children, when he worked in Dharmasthala from 1995 until 2014. He said that many of the deceased were purportedly victims of sexual abuse and murder, with bodies often showing indications of violent assault.
The complainant also said that a family member of his had been sexually abused, which made him leave town in terror. He had been hidden for 12 years before coming forward and giving his evidence because he felt “insurmountable guilt.” He has said that if he didn’t follow his bosses’ orders to get rid of the dead, they would kill him.
SIT’s Careful Investigation Despite Problems
The SIT, which is chaired by Pronab Mohanty, the Director General of Police, has started a careful investigation. The exhumation process began on July 29. The team is not just excavating at the areas that were pointed out, but they are also carefully checking the complainant’s story. An officer had already said, “There are contradictions in what he said happened. We need to make sure the facts are correct and create a clear chronology before we move on. To make sure that everything is clear and correct, the whole process of exhumation is being filmed as part of the official record.
Advocate N Manjunath, who is representing Sujata Bhat, the mother of a medical student who went missing in 2003 and is suspected to be one of the victims, said that the SIT is making progress. He said that the crew had already found things like a PAN card and two ATM cards (one with a male name and the other with the name “Lakshmi”) from a lead that wasn’t related to the excavation. These might be very important pieces of information. Manjunath has also asked for the immediate arrest of Shrinivas Rao, the vice president of the Dharmasthala gram panchayat. He says that Rao’s claims that all remains are buried in official graves are false because of the way the sites are set up, and that his words are an attempt to deceive the public.
The complainant has named 13 possible burial sites, with one site being especially important because it is thought to have the most burials and will be excavated later. Continuous rain is slowing down the work that is going on right now.
People are very interested in the Dharmasthala case and are calling for a full and fair investigation. This is especially true because there have been past claims of cover-ups and negligence in connection with mysterious deaths in the area, such as the still-unsolved rape and murder case of a teenage girl named Sowjanya in 2012. Finding human remains is a major turning point because it gives investigators a real lead in finding out the truth behind these troubling claims.