Karnataka Govt Mulls To Wind Up Excavation At Dharmasthala

Bengaluru: The controversy of Dharmasthala Temple administration, owned by the trust run family of Rajya Sabha member Dr Veerendra Hegde is taking multiple curious turns.

Under pressure from devotees and party the MLAs, the Congress government is planning to wind up the excavation, while the Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing into the `mass burial' is hitting dead ends in all 13 spots where excavation took place..

Meanwhile, Sujatha Bhat, who claimed that he daughter went missing from temple in 2012 is turning out to be an unmarried Naxal sympathiser.

The events started rolling out on Monday, while Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was addressing Congress Legislature Party meeting ahead of Monsoon Legislature Session. When Siddaramaiah cautioned the party MLAs not to make any adverse remarks against Dharmasthala or the ongoing investigations, most of the MLAs requested the CM andHome Minister to call off excavation works, as they were receiving backlash in their constituencies, since most of the Hindus were devotees of Dharmasthala.

On Tuesday, the government was silent during the Legislature Session and assured proper action, when the opposition BJP raked up the Dharmasthala issue and made a huge issue. On Wednesday, the SIT head Prnab Mohanthy and DIG Anucheth came to Vidhana Soudha from Dharmasthala, and briefed both the Chief Minister and the Home Minister about the current status of the investigation.

Meanwhile, protest marches took place in most of the district headquarters across the State, including Mysuru district represented by Siddaramaiah himself. According to some Congress MLAs, the Chief Minister will be taking a decision to stop excavation and control the adverse publicity against Dharmasthala.

Amidst the social media war between pro and anti Dharmasthala temple administration, SIT is facing new challenges. The `masked' complaint has so far shown 14 sites and excavation in 13 sites have yielded nothing, barring one skeletal remains of a male human body. While planning to discontinue the excavation, three more people claimed to be eyewitnesses for the 'masked' complainant burying bodies on Nethravathi river banks have surfaced.

CURIOUS CASE OF ANANYA BHAT:

Soon after the government formed SIT, Sujatha Bhat, an elderly woman, came out publicly and made an appeal before the media to help her get at least the mortal remains of her daughter, who went missing from Dharmasthala temple premises in 2012.

According to Sujatha Bhat, her daughter Ananya Bhat was studying first year MBBS in Manipal. At that time, Sujatha was working as a stenographer with CBI in Kolkata. In 2012, Ananya Bhat had come to Dharmasthala to meet her friends and went to the temple also and went missing while being alone near the temple.

Sujatha Bhat, claiming to be former stenographer with CBI at Kolkata, said that she was assaulted at the house of Dr Veerendra Hegde and police refused to take her complaint. She lodged a complaint with SIT.

However, the media looked out for family members of Sujata Bhat and her brother in law Mahabaleshwar Bhat played down all the claims.

In the first place, she was just SSLC and there was no possibility of getting a steno job with CBI and working in a place like Kolkata. Secondly, she was unmarried and none of the family members were aware of her daughter, who could be studying Medicine in 2012. Thirdly, the reason for family distancing her was that she was hobnobbing with Naxals in Chickamagalur district and was living in a place called Kalasa with Naxalites, he added. .