Karnataka CM says SIT probing Dharmasthala case, downplays demand for NIA probe

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday downplayed calls for a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into allegations of multiple murders, rapes and burials in Dharmasthala, saying the case is already being investigated by the state police through a Special Investigating Team (SIT).

The chief minister was responding to questions about Hindu and Jain seers meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah, seeking an NIA probe into the case.

"We have constituted SIT, they are police. Who is in NIA? They too are police," Siddaramaiah told reporters.

The opposition BJP and JD(S) have also demanded an NIA probe, targeting the Congress government over its handling of the case.

They alleged a conspiracy behind the "smear campaign" against Dharmasthala and the local Hindu temple.

The controversy erupted after a complainant, later identified as C N Chinnaiah and arrested on charges of perjury, claimed to have buried several bodies, including women showing signs of sexual assault, in Dharmasthala over the past two decades, with implications pointing to the administrators of the local temple.

The SIT, tasked by the state government to probe the allegations, has conducted search operations and digs at multiple locations identified by the complainant in forested areas along the banks of the Netravathi River, where skeletal remains were recovered at two sites.