Amid the ongoing investigation into the Dharmasthala mass burial case, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been asked to reinvestigate the suspicious death of a woman that occurred 38 years ago. Despite previous allegations of abduction, rape, and murder, the case was never solved.
A woman named Indravathi from Nelyadi submitted a formal complaint to the SIT office in Belthangady on Monday, August 11, requesting a fresh inquiry into the death of her sister, Padmalatha, in 1986.
Padmalatha, a second-year PU student at SDM College in Ujire, disappeared on December 22, 1986, as per the complaint. Her decomposed body was later found near the Neriya stream on February 17, 1987. Indravathi stated that their father, the late CPI(M) leader Devananda, had campaigned for justice, alleging that Padmalatha had been abducted, raped, and murdered.
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She recalled that due to public pressure, the government at the time launched a Corps of Detectives (COD) investigation— the state's specialised investigation wing, now known as the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
The case was even debated in the Assembly, and a minister, Rachaiah, visited the family and promised action. However, Indravathi claims the investigation was closed without any convictions.
The family chose to bury Padmalatha's body rather than cremate it, hoping it might one day serve as evidence. Indravathi has now requested that the SIT exhume the remains, conduct a fresh inquiry, and bring those responsible to justice, and she has offered to testify as a witness.
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