SIT summons activists in Dharmasthala mass burial probe amid escalating scrutiny
Mangaluru (PTI): The SIT probing allegations of multiple burials at Dharmasthala in Karnataka has issued summons to three activists--Mahesh Shetty Thimarody, T Jayanth, and Girish Mattannavar--requiring their appearance on Monday.
Failure to comply will result in arrest warrants, as the probe deepens into potential perjury and evidence tampering, police sources said.
The SIT investigation has come to a decisive stage and nearing completion, according to a senior official of the SIT.
The case originated in August 2025 when Chinnaiah, a former sanitation worker at the temple from 1995 to 2014, filed a complaint alleging the secret burial of over 200 unidentified bodies on temple premises between 2002 and 2014.
He claimed the remains included victims of accidents, murders, and suspicious deaths, buried without autopsies or police reports to conceal irregularities.
Chinnaiah presented a human skull as evidence, which he said was recovered from the site, sparking widespread outrage among the temple's millions of annual devotees and prompting the state government to form an SIT under Pronab Mohanty.
Investigations revealed Chinnaiah's close ties to the three activists, all linked to the ongoing Justice for Sowjanya campaign--a decade-long push for resolution in the 2012 rape and murder of teenager Sowjanya in Udupi.
Mahesh Shetty Thimarody, a prominent figure in the campaign, provided shelter to Chinnaiah at his Ujire residence days before the complaint. SIT searches there on August 26 yielded 44 items, including laptops with 25 videos of Chinnaiah's media interactions and seized phones containing 21 additional recordings.
Thimarody, externed from Raichur district in September for unrelated charges including assault on a journalist, alongside Mattannavar, faces questions on his role in amplifying the allegations.
T Jayanth, a Bengaluru-based activist and Thimarody associate, hosted Chinnaiah for three days post-arrest and escorted him to Delhi with the skull, accompanied by perjury-accused Sujatha Bhatt and Mattannavar.
Jayanth later admitted to the SIT that he acted on Mattannavar's instructions, claiming no intent to conspire but readiness to face charges.
He also filed a separate complaint alleging improper burial of a 15-year-old girl's body near Dharmasthala in 2002-2003.
Girish Mattannavar, a former sub-inspector and Sowjanya campaign coordinator, introduced Chinnaiah to Jayanth in April 2025 and directed logistics for transporting the skull.
Questioned multiple times in September, Mattannavar has been accused in complaints of orchestrating a network to defame temple head D Veerendra Heggade.
Forensic analysis traced the skull to a medical research centre, undermining its evidentiary value and fuelling perjury inquiries.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
