The Dharmasthala “mass burial” claims crumbled in a matter of weeks as the ‘whistleblower’ and the lady whose alleged daughter went allegedly missing years ago in the holy town confessed that what they had said was a lie.
While the likes of The News Minute tried to push the propaganda to a level, they were ably aided by a group of YouTubers in the Tamil media space.
Several of them had begun by talking about the Sowjanya murder case back in March/April 2025.
Following this most of them received gag orders from the court that prevented them from peddling lies against the revered Hindu institution – Dharmasthala.
Despite this, there were many who kept pushing conspiracy theories and all kinds of concoctions that were alienish in concept – it was very clear that what was being said was purely to generate views and confuse the viewer. Let us take a look at a few such YouTubers who aided in keeping the lie afloat.
Maayam Studios – Karthik Maayakumar
With a blatant disregard for factual accuracy and verification, Karthik, the host, repeatedly builds entire videos around unconfirmed rumors, graphic allegations, and speculative theories, often presenting them as breaking news. He frequently admits that key claims such as the discovery of human remains lack official confirmation, yet he dedicates significant airtime to detailing them. This “report first, verify later” approach prioritizes sensationalism over truth, misleading viewers and spreading unverified information that can cause public panic, harm reputations, and distress families of missing persons.
Furthermore, the content actively interferes with serious criminal investigations. By disclosing specific, unverified details and speculative narratives, he is prejudicing public opinion. He also exploits emotional and sensitive topics for engagement and monetization. He manipulatively focuses on the anguish of grieving families, uses horror-movie language, and juxtaposes tragic themes with jarring advertisements. This not only trivializes human suffering but also commercializes tragedy, reducing serious allegations to clickbait fodder.
Another major issue with these videos is the politicization and polarization of the issues. He frames the entire issue as a political battle, amplifying partisan accusations without providing balanced reporting. He also violates ethical and legal boundaries, including potential contempt of court by discussing topics covered by gag orders and engaging in defamatory speculation about individuals. His rhetoric encourages distrust of authorities and subtly promotes vigilante sentiments, which can have dangerous real-world consequences. Here is a look at how many videos he has posted on the issue and the clickbait cover pictures and headlines:
Nakkheeran & Damodaran Prakash
Nakkheeran and Damodaran Prakash have severely maligned the Dharmasthala institution by presenting unverified, graphic allegations as established facts. They sensationalized claims of mass murders, sexual violence, and institutional cover-ups without providing credible evidence or official corroboration. By naming specific individuals, including temple administrators and political figures, they engaged in defamatory storytelling that pre-judges guilt and undermines due process.
Their use of horrific, detailed narratives including unverified stories of acid attacks, child victims, and organ theft, exploiting emotional triggers to provoke public outrage. This irresponsible framing not only damages the reputation of the temple and its associated individuals but also risks inciting communal tension and vigilante action. Their content disregards journalistic ethics, judicial boundaries, and the basic necessity of verification, substituting truth with conspiracy-driven entertainment.
Jeeva Today
Jeeva Today posted only one video but it was damaging enough. He once again made unsubstantiated accusations like the other YouTubers. The channel repeatedly presented the whistleblower’s claims as verified truth, weaving together decades-old unrelated cases to construct a false narrative of systematic abuse and murder linked to the temple. Using graphic language, clickbait titles, and exaggerated victim counts, Jeeva amplified baseless theories of a high-level cover-up involving police, politicians, and the judiciary. The channel’s reliance on speculative storytelling over factual reporting eroded public trust in institutions and prejudiced ongoing investigations. By framing the temple administration as guilty without evidence, Jeeva not only maligned a respected religious institution but also endangered the possibility of a fair legal process.
P.S: It has been brought to our notice that Jeeva Today posted several videos making unsubstantiated allegations about the temple administration.
Jeeva today posted only one video is wrong @TheCommuneMag . I remember seeing 3-4 a compilation of few here, tried adding dates. Channel has close to 9.6L subs and the guy without any concern goes on blaming institution, trustee and temple. https://t.co/pLg47wPhAg pic.twitter.com/YB3PDM6zBt
— hi_there (@hi_there_2023) August 25, 2025
Roots Tamil
Roots Tamil contributed to the defamation of Dharmasthala by politicizing the allegations and spreading unverified claims under the guise of political commentary. The channel hosted discussions that framed the issue as a partisan battle, accusing BJP and RSS leaders of orchestrating a conspiracy without providing proof. It By blurring the lines between allegation and fact, Roots Tamil reinforced a toxic narrative that the temple and political entities were complicit in horrific crimes. This approach not only damaged the institution’s standing but also polarized public discourse and undermined the integrity of the investigation.
Edison Vlogs
Edison Vlogs engaged in reckless sensationalism by portraying themselves as heroic investigators uncovering a “D-Gang” operating within Dharmasthala.
While the channel posted only 2 videos, including an “interview of a key witness, he presented unverified claims of hundreds of murders and burials as fact, using dramatic visuals, speculative narration, and emotionally charged language to heighten fear and anger. By detailing alleged secret investigations, naming locations, and speculating about victim counts, Edison Vlogs not only spread misinformation but also jeopardized the safety of sources and the integrity of the official probe. The channel’s self-aggrandizing style and conspiracy-laden content misled viewers, eroded trust in lawful institutions, and caused significant reputational harm to the temple and its community.
News I Tamil
News I Tamil exacerbated the damage through highly inflammatory and unsubstantiated reporting, claiming thousands of murders and a systematic cover-up at Dharmasthala. The channel relied on anonymous sources, manipulated emotional anecdotes, and presented speculative numbers like 4,000 or 9,000 victims without any factual basis. By directly accusing temple authorities and political figures of involvement in rape and murder, and by mixing in communal elements such as targeting Brahmin women, the channel fueled social hostility and distrust. Its disregard for judicial gag orders, sensationalized storytelling, and monetization of tragedy demonstrated a clear abandonment of journalistic ethics, further harming the institution’s reputation and public trust.
Yoot Evidence
The Yoot Evidence channel’s videos were also indulging in blurring the line between allegation and verified fact. The core failure lies in its treatment of the whistleblower’s claims – graphic, unverified accounts of hundreds of burials, torture, and sexual violence – as established truth. By narrating these horrific details without forensic or legal corroboration, the video primes viewers to accept these allegations as undeniable reality, pre-judging the case and undermining the principle of ‘innocent until proven guilty’.
Furthermore, the videos construct a vast conspiracy narrative by guilt-by-association, linking the current allegations to decades-old, unrelated missing persons cases without any forensic connection. This bundling of tragedies creates a false impression of a long-running, systemic conspiracy. This is compounded by the use of inflated, un-sourced numbers (“hundreds of bodies,” “400-500 missing women”), which magnify the scale of the alleged crimes without evidence.
Despite acknowledging a court gag order, the video strategically implies the involvement of the temple administration and political networks through leading questions and suggestive framing, creating a perception of a cover-up while technically avoiding direct naming. This feigned neutrality masks a clear accusatory stance.
Ask Raghulan
One of the poorest videos in terms of information – the YouTuber doesn’t even know that the place in question is Dharmasthala and not Dharmashala. We bet he doesn’t know where the latter is located.
He pushes the unverified facts as established facts, without providing a single piece of credible evidence. This baseless narrative is designed purely to provoke outrage and fear. He repeatedly undermines India’s democratic institutions, pre-judging the investigation and judiciary by declaring a cover-up before it has even concluded. This erodes public trust in law enforcement and the courts. Furthermore, the commentary escalates into incitement by openly calling for violent vigilantism, wishing for a “dictator for a day” to execute the accused, thus explicitly rejecting the rule of law and due process. The content is saturated with harmful conspiracy theories, including baseless claims of government censorship and international espionage, and promotes a generalized distrust of all religious institutions.
Saravanan Decodes
The videos from “Saravanan Decodes” represent a severe and dangerous escalation in the irresponsible coverage of the Dharmasthala case. Saravanan openly defies legal authority by knowingly violating a court-issued gag order, first attempting to circumvent it and then misleadingly claiming it was “removed” to justify publishing highly prejudicial content. The content itself is egregiously sensationalist, employing graphic, horror-movie-style descriptions of unverified sexual violence and murder purely for shock value and emotional manipulation. He completely abandons any pretense of journalistic impartiality by presenting the whistleblower’s allegations as undeniable fact, conducting a full “trial by media” and directly implicating the temple administration and specific individuals in monstrous crimes without evidence.
Furthermore, the videos weave decades of unrelated cases into a vast, unverified conspiracy theory involving organ theft, murder, and a complete systemic cover-up by police, investigators, and even the judiciary. This narrative is designed to poison public opinion, incite outrage against the accused, and irrevocably undermine trust in all state institutions.
Paari Saalan
The Paari Saalan interview with Varun, while posing as a thoughtful discussion, blurs historical facts, religious rules, and unverified allegations into a single, misleading narrative. It uncritically amplifies the whistleblower’s grave claims of mass burials and sexual violence, presenting them as plausible truth despite the lack of forensic or judicial verification. Furthermore, Paari Saalan irresponsibly links decades-old, unrelated missing persons cases to the temple administration, implying a long-running conspiracy without any evidence.
They directly accuse the Dharmadhikari family of suppressing crimes and wielding excessive power, blending historical context with speculative allegations. By emphasizing the temple’s Jain origins and its shift towards Hinduism, the narrative injects a communal undertone, framing the issue as one of religious and financial dominance rather than focusing on factual inquiry.
Sha Boo Three
RJ Sha’s content often conflates unrelated historical cases, such as the Saujanya (2012) and Padmalatha (1986) incidents, weaving them into an unverified grand conspiracy tied to the temple administration. This not only misleads viewers but also prejudices public perception against the institution. The channel also misrepresents legal processes, criticizing gag orders as suppression of free speech rather than necessary judicial measures to ensure a fair investigation. Furthermore, the videos risk inciting communal and regional tensions by framing the issue in divisive terms, such as highlighting the whistleblower’s ethnic identity or suggesting broad-based corruption across all government and media institutions.
Overall, the entire set of YouTubers in Tamil Nadu, used the unverified claims made by the masked man as gospel truth, tarnished the image of Hindu institutions, made outlandish claims – be it the “gory details”, the numbers of allegedly dead/missing women, and what not. These videos were made purely for driving engagement and monetization.
Several other prominent Tamil YouTubers such as Madan Gowri, Bogan, etc had been posting videos on the Sowjanya murder case and connecting it to the Dharmadhikaris of Dharmasthala. Owing to court orders, the videos were removed, yet some still remain.
Despite the court orders, these videos in Tamil Nadu have been peddling the anti-Hindu Dravidianist narrative and portraying all Hindu institutions as evil and dangerous.
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