Dharmasthala: Did Mahesh Shetty Thimmarody dig out a skull from his rubber plantation for Chinnayya? Here's how SIT will find out

It was Mahesh Shetty Thimmarody, the Dharmasthala Action Council president, who gave him the skull that he claimed to have dug out from the temple premises, Chinnaiah reportedly told the Special Investigation Team (SIT). The skull was taken from the rubber plantation owned by Shetty, the whistleblower-turned-accused from Mandya is said to have told the probe team.

The SIT will determine if Chinnaiah is lying about Mahesh Shetty Thimmarody's involvement scientifically. They are preparing to collect samples from the said rubber plantation so that they can check for a match by comparing it forensically with particles found from the skull. The SIT has already collected samples and once evidence gathering is completed, they will proceed to issue a notice to Mahesh Shetty Thimmarody, asking him to appear for questioning.

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Earlier, the Special Investigation Team had recovered six phones, including those used by Chinnaiah in connection with the case, Manorama Online said in a report. These phones were recovered from the residences of Mahesh Thimmarody and his brother Mohan Shetty. The investigation team claims that the phones contain videos that prove conspiracy, the report added. Chinnaiah was also brought to Thimmarody's house for evidence collection.

Thimmarody is said to have given haven to Chinnaiah in his house for the last two months.

A controversy erupted after a complainant, later identified as C N Chinnaiah and arrested on charges of perjury, claimed burying a number of 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, which is probing charges, has conducted exhumations 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.

Meanwhile, Kusumavati, mother of Sowjanya, a girl allegedly raped and murdered more than a decade ago, on Thursday submitted a fresh complaint to the SIT probing allegations of multiple rapes, murders and burials in Dharmasthala over the past two decades.

Sowjanya, a 17-year-old college student, was allegedly raped and murdered on October 9, 2012, in Dharmasthala—a case that remains unresolved even more than a decade later. Despite a CBI probe and Supreme Court intervention, the real perpetrators have never been identified.

In her complaint, Kusumavati referred to statements given by Chinnaiah's sister, Ratna, who told the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) that influential figures threatened Chinnaiah in 2014 over his knowledge of Sowjanya's death, forcing him to leave Dharmasthala.

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Additionally, Kusumavati's complaint refers to some media reports that allege a person named Ravi Poojari disclosed the names responsible for the crime to Chinnaiah and was later murdered.

Kusumavati called for a narco-test of Chinnaiah to confirm these claims and urged the Karnataka government and SIT to get justice for her daughter.