Bengaluru: The Dakshina Kannada police Thursday said they have registered four FIRs after followers of the Dharmasthala temple management allegedly assaulted journalists covering the high-profile mass burials case.
Karnataka’s Dharmasthala, one of the holiest Hindu pilgrimage sites, has turned into a fortress with supporters of the temple management as well as those opposing them taking out protest rallies. The town has remained tense ever since a former sanitation worker of the Dharmasthala temple—now under police protection—alleged he was forced to bury several bodies including those of women and minors, some of whom bore signs of sexual assault and torture. Some skeletal remains have been recovered since a Special Investigation Team (SIT) took over the case.
The temple is run by the family of Rajya Sabha MP Veerendra Heggade, who is the chief administrator (Dharmadhikari). The former sanitation worker whose claims put the spotlight on Dharmasthala did not name anyone in his official complaint to the police but alleged he was coerced into disposing bodies by people “connected to the Dharmasthala temple administration and other staff members”.
According to the district police, Ajay, the owner of a YouTube channel called ‘Kudla Rampage’, was conducting an interview at Pangala Cross—around 2 kilometres from the main temple complex—when 15-20 people attacked him and at least three others.
“They threw the complainant’s camera on the road and damaged it, stole the memory card, and threatened his life,” Dakshina Kannada police said in statement to the media Thursday.
The situation got more heated as people started to gather to protest the assault, clashing with those who were allegedly behind it. Within a couple of hours, over a hundred people had arrived and the police resorted to lathi-charge to disperse them.
A case was registered in this regard under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections pertaining to unlawful assembly, rioting, voluntarily causing hurt, intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace, among others.
“Yesterday there were clashes between two groups. Why this clash took place, the motives and the people behind it…I have asked for all this be investigated and a report to be given to me,” Karnataka home minister G. Parameshwara told reporters Thursday.
ThePrint had earlier reached Veerendra Heggade for comment via email, and is yet to receive a response.
Site 13 excavation
The ‘whistleblower’ sanitation worker has identified 13 spots where he claims to have buried bodies. An SIT has so far unearthed just one set of skeletal remains from spot number 6.
The SIT also retrieved a human skull and 81 bones from near site number 11, but these were found not during excavation but lying on the ground, according to the police.
One police officer told ThePrint that they have not found any other remains since.
“Spot number 13 remains and we are waiting for Ground Penetrating Radar survey,” the officer said Wednesday, on condition of anonymity.
Jain community defends Veerendra Heggade
The Dharmasthala empire, which spans educational institutions, hospitals, rural banking and other business ventures running into thousands of crores, has made the Heggades one of the wealthiest and more powerful families in the state, if not the country.
Heggade was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 2022. He received the Padma Vibhushan in 2015.
The Heggades belong to the Jain community and Dharmasthala is a private temple that does not come under the Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act.
Prominent Jain leaders in Karnataka met Wednesday to condemn the misrepresentation of their community in the context of the ongoing investigation at Dharmasthala.
The leaders emphasised that they were not trying to defend one individual or family, but the Jain faith from frequent and mischievous attempts to distort its history.
“We welcome the SIT probe in Dharmasthala. Until the truth is out, people should use proper language when referring to a pilgrimage site that is the pride of Karnataka…nothing should taint it,” Mahendra Singhi, a Jain community leader, told ThePrint.
Singhi said various individuals were using the Dharmasthala controversy to misrepresent the Jain faith, often accusing the Dharmasthala Dharmadhikaari’s family as the ‘Jain family’ responsible for alleged wrongdoings in the region.
Jain monk Sri Gunadhar Nandi Maharaj of Hubballi’s Navagraha Teertha said the Dharmadhikaari was a “pure man”.
“We can see in a person’s face if he is a murderer or rapist…their thinking and mentality itself is different. A murderer, dacoit, rowdy…it can be seen on their faces,” he told ThePrint.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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