In a dramatic turn of events, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has arrested the anonymous whistleblower who had claimed that hundreds of bodies were buried in Dharmasthala. The man, who for weeks appeared in public with his face covered and sought protection under the Witness Protection Act, has now been identified as C.N. Chinnaiah alias Chennaiah, a resident of Chikkaballi village in Mandya district.
Chinnaiah first made headlines in June when he led investigators to 17 locations in Dharmasthala, claiming he had buried bodies there. He also produced skeletal remains, including a skull, as “evidence.” His allegations of mass burials shook Karnataka, raised questions about missing persons cases, and cast a shadow on the revered Dharmasthala temple, attracting both national and international attention.
Arrest After Witness Protection Revoked
Initially, police refrained from arresting him because he had sought protection under the Witness Protection Act, claiming he feared for his life. However, after forensic inquiries reportedly disproved his claims, the SIT revoked his protection and registered multiple cases, including for filing false accusations. He was then arrested and subjected to medical examination at Belthangady Government Hospital before being produced in court.
According to sources, Chinnaiah is believed to have confessed that his allegations were fabricated. SIT officials are now seeking his police custody to continue interrogation, after having already questioned him for over 19 hours.
Old Photo, New Identity
For weeks, Chinnaiah’s identity remained hidden. On Friday, his photograph, taken years ago when he worked as a sanitation worker in Dharmasthala, surfaced in the media. Asianet Suvarna News and other outlets revealed him to be the same “masked man” who had been accompanying investigators since June 2025.
Serious Fallout of False Allegations
The allegations had triggered a frenzy of excavations at multiple sites. However, officials found no evidence to support his claims. Forensic tests revealed that the skull he produced was not linked to the alleged burials, and skeletal remains recovered from two sites were not connected to the charges he made.
Legal experts and observers have pointed out that his false claims not only wasted valuable investigative resources but also inflicted deep emotional distress on families of missing persons, who believed they might finally find closure. The incident also raised serious concerns about attempts to malign the reputation of Dharmasthala and its temple administration.
Chennai Gang Allegedly Trained Him
A few days ago, the masked man confessed to the SIT that he was coerced by a gang in Chennai in December 2023 to fabricate allegations of illegal mass burials.
“They asked me how many bodies I had buried when I worked in Dharmasthala. I told them the truth: that I had legally buried the bodies of pilgrims who came for salvation, through the police and gram panchayat,” the complainant stated. “But the gang insisted that I should say that the bodies were buried illegally. They pressured me… they changed my mind.”
The complainant revealed that the gang brought him to Karnataka, trained him on what to say in court, and even provided him with the skull and bone fragments he submitted as evidence which forensic reports later confirmed belonged to a man who died 30 years ago. He further confessed that he was instructed to coordinate his false testimony with another complainant, Sujatha Bhat, who had filed a missing person report for her daughter.
Ex-Wife’s Testimony
Following this revelation, media personnel found his former wife in Karnataka. Speaking to the media, the woman stated that she married the masked man in 1999 and was together with him for seven years. During this period, she alleged, he physically assaulted her and their children. The couple has a son and a daughter. She claimed that he worked as a sweeper in Dharmasthala, performing tasks such as cleaning toilets, and denied any knowledge of alleged murders, rapes, or burials linked to the case.
“To avoid paying alimony, he lied in court about being unemployed during our divorce. He betrayed me,” she told reporters, adding that her mother took care of the children after their separation. She emphasized her respect for Dharmasthala, asserting that her husband’s claims about crimes in the temple town were false.
Residents of Chikkaballi village in Mandya taluk corroborated aspects of her account, stating that the masked man was a native of Mandya, the youngest of four siblings, and the son of a grama panchayat employee. According to villagers, he was employed in civic work and at a local brick kiln, and the community even built a house for him, which he later sought to transfer into his name. They added that he availed a bank loan to buy cattle but failed to repay it and left the village abruptly in 2014.
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