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.
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Illegal sand mining has created environmental crisis in National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary: SC
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Friday said rampant illegal riverbed sand mining has created an "environmental crisis" and wreaked "havoc" in the National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary, causing a grave risk to the gharial (long-snouted crocodile) preservation project.
Slamming the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh for their utter failure in dealing with the issue, the apex court directed them to install high-resolution Wi-Fi-enabled CCTV cameras along all routes frequently used for illegal sand mining in the area.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta directed that live feed of such surveillance cameras shall be placed under the direct control, supervision and operational oversight of the superintendent of police or the senior superintendent of police of the concerned district and the divisional forest officer.
It said these officers shall ensure continuous and effective monitoring of the CCTV feeds by designating appropriate officers.
"It can't be gainsaid that the issues involved are of great concern in as much as the rampant illegal mining activities in the river bed have created an environmental crisis and havoc in the National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary causing a grave risk to the very project of gharial preservation of which the state governments themselves were proponents and were under an obligation to foster and promote," Justice Mehta said while pronouncing the order.
The bench directed the authorities in these three states to initiate prompt and necessary action under law if any instance of illegal mining or allied activities comes to light.
It said the authorities shall ensure seizure of vehicles or machinery found involved in illegal sand mining and also initiate prosecution of persons involved in it.
The bench, which passed several other directions, posted the matter for hearing on May 11.
The top court passed the order in a suo motu case titled 'In Re: Illegal sand mining in the National Chambal Sanctuary and threat to endangered aquatic wildlife'.
The National Chambal Sanctuary, also called the National Chambal Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary, is a 5,400-sq km tri-state protected area.
Besides the endangered gharial, it is home to the red-crowned roof turtle and the endangered Ganges river Dolphin.
Located on the Chambal river near the tripoint of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, the sanctuary was first declared a protected area in Madhya Pradesh in 1978 and now constitutes a long and narrow eco-reserve co-administered by the three states.
On March 13, the top court took suo motu cognisance of news reports about rampant illegal sand mining on the banks of the Chambal river.
