The sensational allegations of “illegal mass burials” at Dharmasthala Temple have taken a dramatic turn with the main complainant retracting his claims before the Special Investigation Team (SIT), admitting that he was coerced by a gang into making false statements.
The Confession: A Scripted Lie
The former sanitation worker, whose July 3 testimony before a magistrate ignited a national firestorm, has now provided a detailed confession to the Special Investigation Team (SIT). He stated that a gang approached him in Chennai in December 2023.
“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.
The SIT has since confirmed that the skull and bone fragments were of men who had died decades earlier, undermining the complainant’s earlier claims. Excavations at 17 sites identified by him yielded no evidence of mass graves. At one site, partial skeletal remains were found but were confirmed to be male, dating back 30 years.
Political Finger-Pointing
As the case crumbles, political attention has turned to identifying the “gang” behind the conspiracy. BJP MLA from Udupi, Yashpal Suvarna, and Independent MLA G. Janardhan Reddy have publicly named Congress MP Sasikanth Senthil as the key conspirator. They allege Senthil, who served as Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner, orchestrated the plot using leftist and Islamist networks he cultivated during his administrative tenure.
The MLAs have pointed to Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar’s own previous remark about a “larger conspiracy” and are now demanding the SIT have the courage to probe Senthil’s involvement, questioning if his status as a sitting Congress MP will grant him immunity.
Who Is Sasikanth Senthil?
Senthil, who resigned from the IAS in 2019 citing opposition to Article 370 abrogation and CAA, later joined the Congress and rose quickly within the party. He was elected from Tiruvallur (Tamil Nadu) in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and is seen as a close aide of Rahul Gandhi.
However, his tenure as Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner has been clouded by allegations of corruption and favoritism. He was accused of creating sand mining cartels, manipulating the government’s “Sand Bazar” app to benefit select groups, and granting tenders to blacklisted firms in exchange for kickbacks. Critics also accuse him of fostering ties with leftist and Islamist organisations like PFI and SDPI while serving in the district.
These past allegations have resurfaced amid claims that he used his political network to engineer the Dharmasthala controversy in order to discredit a Hindu religious institution with deep influence in Karnataka.
Subscribe to our channels on Telegram, WhatsApp, and Instagram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.