Dharmasthala mass burial case: RTI revelations trigger shocking testimonies

Stunning disclosures in Belthangady, Karnataka, have sparked fresh public anger in the Dharmasthala mass burial incident, after India Today’s exclusive article revealed the deliberate erasure of police documentation. Documents obtained through the Right to Information (RTI) by India Today reveal that the Belthangady police erased all records from the Unnatural Death Register (UDR) from 2000 to 2015, a timeframe that aligns with various claims of unreported and questionable deaths.

Currently, RTI activist Jayanth has submitted a formal complaint to the Special Investigation Team (SIT), alleging he observed the unlawful burial of a young girl’s remains. He claims that legal procedures were openly breached and that multiple officials were in attendance at that moment. The SIT is anticipated to file an FIR and initiate exhumation actions shortly.

Jayanth, who has extensively utilized RTI to investigate police behavior, mentioned that he had previously sought data and images of missing persons from the Belthangady Police Station Jayanth said, “On August 2, I filed a complaint with the SIT. This complaint is based on an incident I personally witnessed. I named everyone who was present at that time, including officers.

When the girl’s body was found, all legal procedures were violated. They buried the body like one would bury a dog. That sight has haunted me for years.” He added that two years ago he had warned that he would reveal the truth if honest officers ever took over the investigation.

“Now that moment has come, so I’ve filed this complaint. No one is behind me or influencing me to do this.”

“As an RTI activist, I had filed a requisition at the Belthangady Police Station asking for records of all missing persons complaints along with photographs. But in their reply, police claimed that the missing complaint records were destroyed. In today’s digital age, how can such data be destroyed without digitising it first?”

He added, “If skeletal remains are found, how will the government match them to anyone when they’ve destroyed the relevant documents? Who are the people behind this? Who is influencing and covering this up? When there are computerised backups, how can they claim to have destroyed everything without backing it up? All of this must be investigated thoroughly.”

The Belthangady Police in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district have faced significant backlash after confessing to the destruction of vital records related to unidentified death cases filed between 2000 and 2015, a period that nearly coincides with allegations from a whistleblower regarding mass burials occurring in Dharmasthala, a temple town in the same taluk. The new complaint Following a Right to Information (RTI) request, the police revealed that postmortem reports, wall posters, notices, and photographs used to identify deceased individuals were destroyed as part of standard administrative procedures .