SIT will soon begin probe into Dharmasthala 'mass burial' case: Minister Parameshwara
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Tuesday said that a Special Investigation Team (SIT), constituted to probe allegations of mass burials in Dharmasthala in the Dakshina Kannada district, will soon visit there and begin the inquiry.
The SIT, headed by Pronab Mohanty, Director General of Police (Internal Security Division), consists of Deputy Inspector General of Police (Recruitment) M N Anucheth and IPS officers Soumyalatha S K and Jitendra Kumar Dayama.
"We have already given them (SIT) instructions to go there (Dharmasthala) immediately. Based on the records available at the police station, they will begin (the investigation). Instructions have gone to the local police too from the DG to give the related records and documents to the SIT.
"Mohanty (SIT chief) and his team will probably go there in a couple of days and will begin their work," Parameshwara said.
Responding to a question on reports claiming that two officers from SIT were seeking to leave for personal reasons, he said if anyone in the team makes a request not to be its part, citing reasons, and convinces, they will be replaced.
"For now, all four of them are part of the team. Yesterday I saw some media reports, but it has not come to me. If anyone from the team has requested the DG or the Commissioner, they will be replaced," he added.
The SIT was constituted by the government following claims about alleged mass murder, rape, and mass burials in Dharmasthala, over the past two decades.
A former sanitation worker, whose identity has not been revealed, has claimed that he worked in Dharmasthala between 1995 and 2014, and that he was forced to bury a number of bodies, including those of women and minors, in Dharmasthala.
He had alleged that some of the bodies showed signs of sexual assault. He has also given a statement before a magistrate in this regard.
To a question about an alleged report submitted to the government in 2018 regarding unnatural deaths in Belthangady (the taluk under which Dharmasthala comes) and no action was taken based on that, the home minister stated that he was unaware of it. However, he assured that he would look into if such a report exists officially.
"Who has submitted the report I don't know. Who was in the committee? Who constituted it? Was it authorised by the government? Or was it private? Nothing is known. If any report has come to the government officially and if it was authorised by the government, then it will be examined," he said.
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Nitish transfers Rs 10,000 each to bank accounts of 25 lakh women under flagship scheme
Patna (PTI): Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday transferred Rs 10,000 each to the bank accounts of 25 lakh women under the ‘Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana’, which aims to promote women's empowerment through self-employment and livelihood opportunities.
Kumar disbursed a total amount of Rs 2,500 crore through direct benefit transfer (DBT) at a function held here at his official residence, 1 Anne Marg, officials in the CMO said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched Bihar's ‘Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana’ in September, 2025.
Around 1.81 crore women have so far received Rs 10,000 each, and those who have utilised the sum for setting up a business will soon get another Rs 2 lakh, the officials said.
The chief minister had recently announced that the Bihar government initiated the process of providing additional financial assistance of up to Rs 2 lakh to select beneficiaries under the scheme.
