Bengaluru: The Dharmasthala `mass burial' episode has taken a U-turn with the SIT probing into the allegations made by the anonymous complainant has turned its focus on the complainant himself and started questioning the maskman.
Though the sources in SIT said that the complainant had confessed to be part of a game plan to build a narrative against the temple administration, both SIT and the government are cautiously waiting to complete all the formalities before making a public statement with this regard.
The investigation was initiated following a court order after the 'maskman' lodged a complaint with Dharmasthala police and later made a statement before the judge under CrPC Sec 164 (now 186). Since excavation has taken place, presuming that some of the skeletal remains of the human beings, which are very old, might have dissolved in the soil, had collected sand and sent it to FSL lab to find out if any human DNA was present in those samples. The forensic report will be arriving in two days.
Meanwhile, the maskman is said to have confessed that he was living in Tamil Nadu, after leaving the job at Dharmasthala. Initially, when asked, from where he got the first skull he produced before the police, he went on giving different spots. Later, he confessed that he was persuaded by a group of people to make a false statement that he had buried hundreds of bodies of women illegally.
The maskman confessed that initially, he was reluctant to make such a statement, as he was afraid of it. However, the group of people persuaded him for one and a half years and assured him of his safety. They also said that he could make a statement after one woman complains of a missing girl. After the woman (Sujatha Bhat) lodged a complaint with the police, he got courage to be part of the group, sources said.
The maskman also said that the first skull he handed over to the police was handed over to him by the group of people who persuaded him to come there. The entire narrative was tutored to him, given the support of lawyers, the SIT sources said.
The sources said that there were a couple of other statements made by the maskman before the magistrate that had to be verified. The SIT has to receive the FSL report of the soil also and then take permission of both the government and the court before initiating a reverse investigation against the maskman, the SIT sources added.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Dr G Parameshwar made a statement in the Legislative Assembly over Dharmasthala row and said that the SIT was probing in the right direction and there was no reason to doubt the government's commitment to bring the culprits into the books.
``We are not interfering with the investigation by the SIT and we can't say that the excavation has stopped. However, SIT, in the right time, will stop digging and take up further investigation. It may require a couple of days' time to complete the legal procedures and we may have to wait till the procedures are completed.
