Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Wednesday said that the state government will decide if there is a need to replace senior IPS officer Pronab Mohanty, who is the Special Investigation Team (SIT) chief, set up to probe the allegations of "mass burials" in Dharmasthala, considering law and rules.
Minister Parameshwara was speaking to reporters about finding a replacement for Mohanty, who is set to join the union government after being included in the Centre's list of empanelled Director General-rank officers. The SIT was constituted by the state government following claims about alleged mass murder, rape, and mass burials in Dharmasthala, over the past two decades.
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"We will discuss if he (Mohanty) can continue to head the Special Investigation Team being there (in a new role at Centre) or should he be replaced. If law and rule permits that he can continue to head the SIT being there. We will continue him. If he needs to be replaced, the government will appoint an official of the same ranking," Parameshwara was quoted as saying by PTI in response to a question.
Asked about the SIT investigation, he said, "I will not make any comments on the Dharmasthala SIT probe. After the probe is completed and we get the report, we can speak then. Until then I will not speak."
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.
The SIT headed by Mohanty -- the Director General of Police (Internal Security Division), also consists of Deputy Inspector General of Police (Recruitment) M N Anucheth and IPS officers Soumyalatha S K and Jitendra Kumar Dayama.
Twenty police personnel--inspectors, sub-inspectors, head constables and constables--from Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada have also been deployed to the SIT.
The SIT on Tuesday began exhumation as part of its probe into the alleged mass burials at the locations identified by the complainant witness.
