The controversy surrounding allegations of “mass burials” of women and minor girls at the Lord Manjunatha shrine in Dharmasthala has taken a dramatic turn after the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the Karnataka government failed to recover any remains supporting the claims.
The case originated on 3 June 2025, when an unidentified complainant, who appeared in public fully covered to conceal his identity and came to be known as the “masked man,” claimed to be a former sanitation worker at the shrine. He alleged that he had been forced to bury large numbers of women and minor girls between 1995 and 2014, who were allegedly raped and murdered. He submitted skeletal remains in court which he claimed to have exhumed from one of the sites and later testified before a court in the same concealed manner.
Following his complaint, another woman lodged a case stating that her daughter had gone missing during a trip to Dharmasthala.
Given the seriousness of the charges, the state government formed an SIT on 19 July 2025 to investigate. The “masked man” pointed investigators to 13 alleged burial sites. Excavations were carried out at 17 sites in total, but the case began unraveling as the SIT found no evidence of mass burials.
At one location, bone fragments recovered were determined by forensic experts to belong to a male. At another site, identity cards recovered belonged to a man who reportedly died of illness. The skull handed over to the court by the complainant was tested in two hospitals, both confirming it was that of a male who died about 30 years ago.
Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) was later deployed at the request of the complainant. At site number 13, where he had claimed 60–100 bodies were buried at a depth of 16 feet, the radar showed no anomalies and excavation produced no findings.
During digging at site number 11, the complainant abruptly claimed that the actual burial spot was about 150 metres away. At that new location, investigators recovered 81 bones lying on the surface rather than buried. Experts said these too appeared to be from a male. Male clothing and a red saree were found, along with indications that the site may have been connected to a suicide. Excavation there also yielded nothing further.
As the SIT continued to find no corroboration, officials announced they would not excavate every site identified by the “masked man,” but would check a few more, including a location flagged by another complainant who claimed to have witnessed the burial of a 13-year-old girl.
So far, the SIT has registered cases of unnatural death in connection with skeletal remains recovered at two sites and is also investigating the missing girl complaint filed by the mother of Ananya Bhat.
The collapse of the allegations has sparked political confrontation. Devotees staged protests demanding action against those who spread what they called false charges to defame the temple. The state government has assured action against what it described as propaganda.
Deputy Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar stated that the ongoing investigation would expose what he termed a conspiracy to tarnish the temple’s reputation. He added that strict action would follow if the “mass burial” charges were proven false. Shivakumar accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of politicising the case, saying the party had not spoken when the allegations first surfaced but had later attempted to gain political mileage. He remarked that the BJP acted as though “Hinduism is their private property” and suggested the party was exploiting Dharmasthala for political ends.
The BJP staged a rally on Saturday at the temple, demanding punishment for those behind the allegations. Party leader S. R. Vishwanath said the BJP had initially refrained from commenting because it believed there could have been some truth in the charges. He said the party decided to intervene once excavations disproved claims of mass burials and pledged support to Dharmasthala against what he called false propaganda.
Meanwhile, the “masked man” remains under witness protection. In an interview with India Today, he maintained his allegations, claiming that natural causes or infrastructure activity could have displaced bodies, explaining why excavations yielded nothing.
(With inputs from OpIndia)
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