The opposition parties in Karnataka staged the 'Dharmastala Chalo' rally on Monday to condemn the ruling Congress for allegedly yielding to those who "conspired" to tarnish the Hindu place of worship.
The BJP, which dubbed the Siddaramaiah government as 'anti-Hindu', demanded a thorough probe by a central agency into the alleged conspiracy.
'BJP calls for central agency probe'
The saffron party upped its ante against the government and the activists after the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the state government found no skeletons despite digging up at least 15 spots identified by the complainant Chinnaiah, a former sanitation worker at the temple town. Chinnaiah had claimed to have buried more than a hundred bodies, including those of sexual assault victims at Dharmasthala, under duress. But even after 16 days of exhumation, the SIT found no evidence to substantiate Chinnaiah's claims, and eventually arrested him for interrogation.
State BJP president BY Vijayendra alleged that the mass burial case was a conspiracy hatched by people with foreign funding and support to tarnish the image of the Hindu pilgrimage centre. "Today, there are no BJP flags at this rally. Only devout Hindus who feel wronged have turned up seeking justice for the temple town. We demand a CBI or NIA inquiry as we feel we will not get justice from the Siddaramaiah government's probes into the case," said Vijayendra, critcising the Congress for its "anti-Hindu" stance.
Union Minister Prahald Joshi demanded to know why the SIT had not chosen to initiate proceedings and interrogate the complainant instead of blindly following his lead.
VIDEO | Dharamsthala: "Dharmasthala Chalo is to unearth the conspiracy of the ultra-leftist wings in the Congress government, who are trying to defame all Hindu Shraddha Kendras and Hindu beliefs in the country. They are consistently targeting Hindu society and the Hindu… pic.twitter.com/mfBSJ8b3mM
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 1, 2025
"Why did the SIT not start the probe by interrogating the complainant before digging up Dharmastala. Why did the SIT not find out how he got the skull he produced before the court?" asked Joshi.
Vijayendra stated that deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar had also claimed that there was a big conspiracy (against Dharmastala). "Shivakumar had admitted there was a conspiracy and he would expose the people behind it. But the Siddaramaiah government yielded to pressure and constituted the SIT," added Vijayendra.
While the SIT is yet to submit the report on the controversial Dharmastala mass burial case, the investigations into serious cases of fraud and corruption in Karnataka have either hit a dead end or are moving at a snail's pace, raising questions over political considerations driving the fate of most investigations in the state.
"We are also Hindu. The BJP is politicising the issue and painting the ruling Congress as the villains. We have confidence that the SIT probe will reveal the truth," said Siddaramaiah.
'Congress defends state investigation, slams BJP'
IT minister Priyank Kharge slammed the BJP for demanding a probe by central agencies. "The Dharmasthala case is a fallout of a tussle within the RSS. The BJP had demanded a reinvestigation of the Sowjanya (sexual assault and murder) case and this time, they kept quiet even when we constituted an SIT to probe the mass burial case. But now, suddenly they have staged the dharmastala chalo rally. They are demanding a CBI probe. But there are at least 74 cases in Karnataka pending before the CBI," charged Kharge, also reminding that the CBI (in July 2024), had sought assistance from the state government, citing 'manpower shortage'.
The CBI's anti-corruption branch, on July 12, 2024, had written to Karnataka chief secretary seeking manpower and logistics requirements, including a camp office and vehicles, to investigate cases involving 46,240 depositors, Rs 1,236 crore worth of loss, 74 pre-existing FIRs, and numerous accused over different parts of the country.
Interestingly, last September, when Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was facing the heat due to the MUDA site allotment scam, Karnataka withdrew open consent to the CBI to conduct inquiries within its territory. Then, Law Minister HK Patil claimed "biased" actions by the CBI against opposition party leaders, by orders of the BJP, especially before elections. Karnataka joined the states like Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, which were the first ones to withdraw open consent to the central agency.
"In all the cases that we have so far referred to the CBI, they have not filed chargesheets. They have also refused to investigate cases referred to them too," Patil had claimed.
Other high-profile SIT investigations in Karnataka
Meanwhile, the BJP and JDS have been opposing the ruling party, constituting an SIT allegedly to target the political opponents.
Some of the high-profile cases being probed by SIT in the state include the bitcoin scam (2023), Valmki corporation fund diversion case, 40% Commission, HD Kumaraswamy land grab case, Prajwal Revanna sexual assault cases and Bengaluru stadium stampede case.
Union minister and JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy labelled the SIT as "Siddaramaiah Investigation Team".
In the bitcoin scam, the SIT is investigating corruption charges against four former Central Crime Branch officers accused of tampering with evidence linked to hacker Srikrishna Ramesh (Sriki). The SIT is preparing chargesheets over evidence tampering and cryptocurrency misappropriation.
In May 2024, an SIT was formed to probe the misappropriation of funds in the Valmiki Development Corporation. Then, ST welfare minister B Nagendra resigned to 'save' the reputation of his party and the government. But the SIT did not include his name in the chargesheet and gave him a clean chit. The High Court ordered a CBI probe on July 1, 2025, and asked the SIT to hand over all the relevant records to the CBI, after the state government refused to voluntarily refer the case to the central agency. ED arrested Nagendra (granted bail in October 2024) on July 12, 2024, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
In the Prajwal Revanna case, the SIT filed a 2000-page chargesheet detailing abuse and sexual harassment by Prajwal against a domestic worker and her daughter. Prajwal, who was arrested on May 31, 2024, on his return from Germany, was remanded to SIT custody. In August 2025, he was convicted of rape and sexual harassment. The special court for elected representatives described the crime as "horrendous and acrimonious" and lauded the SIT's rigorous investigative work.
In January 2025, the state government formed a five-member SIT to probe land-grabbing allegations in Kethaganahalli village in Ramanagara involving HD Kumaraswamy. By High Court order, 14 acres of disputed land was reclaimed by the revenue officials. In June 2025, the HC issued an interim stay on both the SIT's formation and summons issued to him, citing procedural deficiencies. Kumaraswamy criticised the state government, saying the SIT probe was a 'targeted campaign'.
The state government formed a 15-member SIT to probe the June 4 Bengaluru stampede case that claimed 11 lives. Simultaneously, the one-man commission headed by retired Justice JM D'Cunha also probed the case and submitted a report leading to a crowd control SOP and a bill, which has now been referred to a House panel for further scrutiny.
The latest case to join the long list of SIT probes is the Dharmasthala mass burial case. The SIT arrested the complainant-whistleblower (C.N. Chinnaiah) on charges of perjury and providing false evidence—his statements were found to contain inconsistencies, and skeletal remains he produced were determined by forensics not to be from the alleged burial site. Multiple new charges were added under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including forgery, fabrication of evidence, and destruction of evidence—focusing on the skull he submitted to the court. The team searched the residence of activist Mahesh Shetty Thimmarody, who had sheltered the whistleblower, as part of its expanded investigation.
The case has now escalated politically as the BJP and JDS have launched a “Dharma Yatra” protest, criticising the government's handling of the SIT probe.
Even as the political parties constantly spar over corruption cases, the low conviction rate, slow-paced investigation, involvement of multiple agencies and inconclusive probe smack of political interference. Parties are vying for political mileage rather than seeking justice. Lack of accountability and political will of subsequent governments has made justice elusive.
