Dharmasthala case: SIT files charge sheet, six accused named
Mangaluru (Karnataka) (PTI): The SIT investigating the allegations of multiple murders, rapes and burials in the temple town of Dharmasthala, has submitted the charge sheet before a court in Dakshina Kannada district, police sources said.
The Special Investigation Team submitted the 3,900-page report to the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court at Beltangady on Thursday, under Section 215 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), naming six persons as accused, they said.
Mahesh Shetty Timarodi, Girish Mattannavar, T Jayanth, Vittal Gowda -- activists who had earlier backed the registration of the FIR in the case -- also Sujatha Bhat and one more person (reportedly complainant Chinnaiah), have been named as the accused.
A controversy erupted after a man, identified as C N Chinnaiah and arrested on charges of perjury, claimed burying many bodies, including those of women with signs of sexual assault, in Dharmasthala over a period of two decades, with the implications pointing towards the administrators of the local temple.
The SIT, formed by the state government, has conducted excavations at multiple locations identified by the complainant in the forested areas along the banks of the Netravathi River in Dharmasthala, where some skeletal remains were found at two sites.
Later, the SIT recently again recovered some skeletal remains during a search operation in the Banglegudde forest area near the Nethravathi bathing ghat.
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Had a very good conversation with friend Modi: Trump
Washington (PTI): US President Donald Trump on Friday said he had a "very good conversation" with his "friend" Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He was referring to the talks the two leaders had on Tuesday.
"I had a very good talk with him, and he's a friend of mine from India, and he's doing great. We had a very good conversation," Trump told reporters here as he headed to Las Vegas to address a roundtable on tax cuts.
Trump had called Modi on Tuesday to discuss the bilateral relationship and share perspectives on the situation in West Asia, where the US and Israel have launched a war on Iran.
The US and Iran declared a two-week ceasefire on April 7. They engaged in peace talks with Washington, insisting that Tehran give up its pursuit of nuclear weapons and uranium enrichment.
The war with Iran has sent gas prices soaring as Tehran blocked the sea lanes in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow gateway for a fifth of global oil supplies.
During the Trump-Modi phone call on Tuesday, the two leaders stressed the importance of keeping the Strait of Hormuz open and secure.
According to the US Ambassador to India Sergei Gor, the 40-minute conversation ended with Trump telling Modi, "we all love you".
Tuesday's phone call was the second between the two leaders since the US-Israel war with Iran began on February 28.
