Dharmasthala ‘burials’: SIT calls claims fake
Strap: A preliminary probe report says 6 people conspired to craft a story of hidden graves, raped victims & buried secrets
OB bureau
A case that once sent shivers down Karnataka’s spine has now taken a dramatic turn. The Special Investigation Team probing the alleged “mass burials” in Dharmasthala has told a court that the sensational claims were not just false, but manufactured.
A preliminary report filed before the court says six individuals worked in concert to construct a narrative of hidden graves, raped victims and buried secrets, dragging one of the State’s most revered institutions into a national storm. For now, Dharmasthala authorities have been given a clean chit.
The SIT has named six accused, namely Chinnayya, Mahesh Shetty Timarodi, Girish Mattannanavar, Vittal Gowda, T. Jayanth and Sujata Bhatt, detailing what it describes as their roles in a conspiracy stitched together with coached statements, a procured skull, and a fabricated tale of a missing girl.
At the centre of the plot, the report says, stood mask man Chinnayya, the complainant whose dramatic allegations last year had jolted Karnataka. The SIT says he was promised money to give false testimony, including claims that he had buried victims of rape and murder, and that a video of his coached statement was recorded.
He even produced a human skull, claiming it came from a Dharmasthala burial site. Investigators say this, too, was false. He is now under arrest.
If Chinnayya was the face, the SIT paints Mahesh Shetty Timarodi as the engine room. He allegedly hosted the meetings, encouraged false complaints, and helped weave in the story of a “missing girl” to bolster the narrative. The SIT calls him a central coordinator.
The skull, the macabre prop at the heart of the allegations, travelled far. The report says Girish Mattannanavar sourced it from Bangle Gudde through Vittal Gowda, kept it in a security guard’s room in Bangalore, and later handed it to T. Jayanth, who allegedly carried it all the way to Delhi in an attempt to place it before the Supreme Court as evidence.
The skull was later brought back to Timarodi’s house, and money was allegedly routed to Chinnayya to keep the fiction alive. Meanwhile, Sujata Bhatt filed a police complaint about her missing daughter, a step the SIT says was suggested by Timarodi and others to layer legitimacy onto the claims. According to the report, she too played a role in “constructing” the allegations.
But the SIT has stressed that these are preliminary findings. Technical evidence is pending, some accused are not cooperating, and the final report is yet to be filed. Still, the narrative that once sparked calls for a court-monitored probe into alleged murders of women, girls and destitute men appears, for now, to be collapsing under the weight of these new findings.
The political ripples, however, are already showing. Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, reacting to questions, said he had not yet read the charge sheet but was unequivocal about one thing that action will be taken against perpetrators.
“Whatever action has to be taken under the law will be taken by the government. Ultimately, the truth has come out. This conspiracy took place due to big differences between the BJP and the RSS,” he claimed.
The SIT had, on November 21, filed a staggering 3,900-page charge sheet before a Belthangady court, naming the six and charging them under the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita for giving false evidence, forgery and other offences.
HL: Is cricket returning to Chinnaswamy?
OB Bureau
Six months after the June 4 stampede that left 11 people dead and cast a long, painful shadow over Bangalore’s beloved Chinnaswamy Stadium, the Karnataka government is finally signalling a thaw.
Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar in midweek said he is “open-minded” about allowing the stadium to host international and IPL fixtures again. A stance, that hints at cricket’s slow, cautious return even as the tragedy still hangs in the city’s memory.
Speaking to the press near Suvarna Vidhana Soudha and Circuit House in Belagavi, Shivakumar stressed that the government will not rush but will certainly not shut the gates on the game either.
The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), now led by former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad, has formally requested permission to resume matches at the iconic venue that has fallen silent ever since that fateful night of chaos, lapses and loss.
“The new KSCA President Venkatesh Prasad met me and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. He has submitted a request, and we will discuss it in the cabinet meeting,” Shivakumar said.
The words carried both caution and a quiet determination; a promise to restore normalcy without repeating the past.
“The accident near Chinnaswamy Stadium should not have happened. But it did. Many lapses occurred. These must be rectified, and crowd management should be done as per separate guidelines,” he acknowledged, blunt about the failures yet clear that paralysis cannot be a policy.
Behind the scenes, the wheels are turning. Prasad and his team have met both Shivakumar and the Chief Minister, assuring the government of their willingness to enforce stricter protocols.
Shivakumar echoed this alignment, “We have no intention of stopping cricket matches. But crowd-management measures need to be examined. We also intend to implement the recommendations of the Justice Michael D’Cunha Committee in a phased manner. Venkatesh Prasad too has agreed to this.”
For the government, the question is no longer whether cricket should return, but how and more importantly, safely. Shivakumar put it plainly, “Personally, I am very open-minded about this matter. We should not allow the reputation of our state to be damaged. We will place this matter before the cabinet and then take a decision.”
What stands out is not just openness, but resolve. “Whether it is the IPL or any other match, we will not allow them to be shifted out of Bangalore,” he said. And then another hint at ambition -:the government is even ready to build new stadiums, a move that could reshape the city’s sporting infrastructure.
For now, though, all eyes are on Chinnaswamy, a stadium aching to reclaim its roar, a city waiting to exhale, and a government trying to balance grief, accountability and the unbreakable pulse of cricket in Karnataka.
NEWS AT A GLANCE
HL: ‘My chair is steady!’, CM fires back at taunts
OB Bureau
Karnataka’s power play took a theatrical turn in the Legislative Council midweek, as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar found themselves at the centre of a very public, very pointed tussle over perception and that eternal symbol of authority, the chair.
It started innocuously. Siddaramaiah rose to speak, only to discover his chair was awkwardly placed. He signalled to House staff to pull it back so he could stand properly. A routine adjustment, until the opposition seized the moment like cats scenting an open window.
BJP MLC Hanumanth Nirani joked that even the CM seemed to be struggling, noting his microphone wasn’t set right either. Siddaramaiah dismissed the jibe with a dry truth: anyone, “even the Prime Minister,” must speak up when something is amiss.
But the real spark came when Leader of the Opposition Chalavadi Narayanaswamy remarked that the CM’s chair looked “shaky” these days.
Siddaramaiah’s reply carried the weight of both confidence and challenge. “My chair is not shaky,” he said sharply. “First check whether your chair is shaky. My chair is strong and steady.”
The BJP pressed on, hinting that the political climate suggested otherwise. Siddaramaiah smiled — a knowing, seasoned smile. “I know. When there is trouble, it should be mentioned. Now it’s alright.”
Meanwhile, the spotlight swung to the man widely seen as the heir-in-waiting.
Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar, caught folding his hands toward the opposition benches, drew instant mockery. Former minister V. Sunil Kumar teased him for showing “too much humility,” needling him with a poetic jab from “Kaanada Kadalige Hambaliside Mana” comparing Shivakumar’s manner to a heart longing for the unseen ocean, or in this case, the unseen chair.
Suresh Kumar added talk of “image makeovers,” while Shivakumar held his smile, unruffled. Speaker U.T. Khader eventually pulled the House back to North Karnataka’s pressing issues, but by then the message was clear – in Karnataka politics, even a simple chair can reveal the fault lines beneath.