Karnataka High Court stays proceedings in Dharmasthala case

BENGALURU: Karnataka High Court takes further steps in the investigation in the case of burying bodies in Dharmasthala. The court has ordered an interim stay on the investigation into the case registered after the revelations of former sanitation worker Chinnaiah. The action is based on a plea filed by Girish Mattannavar, Jayant T, Mahesh Shetty Timarodi and Vitthala Gowda, suspected to have been involved in the conspiracy in the case. They approached the high court seeking quashing of the FIR lodged in their complaint.

The high court has temporarily stayed the investigation proceedings until a detailed hearing on the plea is held on November 12. The four approached the court, pointing that they have been summoned nine times, and received the tenth on the 27th, and that this is an illegal action. The high court after considering the plea, criticized the action taken by sending notices multiple times in the same case without registering a separate FIR. Following the Dharmasthala controversy, an order was also issued to deport the president of the Dharmasthala Action Council.

The police started investigating the case after a sanitation worker revealed that he had buried the bodies of about 100 girls and women between 1992 and 2014. The Karnataka government then appointed a special investigation team to investigate the case. Although a soil-based search was conducted based on Chinnaiah’s statement, no remains were found to support his claim.

The petitioners pointed that the notice sent by the police was not served directly to them and was sent only through other channels. The petitioners requested that they cooperate with the investigation and therefore should not face arrest or other action. The plea stated that the investigation team's actions were not legally valid and the procedures were wrong.