SIT Chief Pronab Mohanty will reportedly not lead the investigation in Dharmasthala burial case. It has been learnt that the Centre has released the list of empanelment of Director General-ranked officers to serve in the Union Government, which has the name of Mohanty. He is currently the DGP of the Internal Security Division (ISD), Karnataka.
The case, which has drawn widespread attention, focuses on suspicious burials and alleged criminal activities, raising questions over the sudden transfer of the top official leading the Special Investigation Team.
Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Wednesday said that the decision to replace senior IPS officer Mohanty, who is the SIT chief established to investigate the reports of "mass burials" in Dharmasthala, will be taken by the state government, keeping law and rules in mind.
"We will consider whether he (Mohanty) can continue to lead the Special Investigation Team. If law and rules allow, then we will go on with him. If he has to be replaced, the government will bring an officer of the same level," Parameshwara replied to a query.
Asked about the SIT investigation, he said, "I will not make any comments on the Dharmasthala SIT probe. After the investigation is completed and we get the report, we can speak." 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.
Meanwhile, the SIT moved to the second alleged burial site on Wednesday, and exhumation is being carried out in search of any human remains in connection with the case. An officer who is part of the probe team said that the second site is a small hilly spot inside the forested area close to the Nethravathi bathing ghat, and only manual labour will be used for the digging purpose. "We will not be using machinery for the exhumation," he added.
An official added that the SIT started the process to exhume dead bodies from Tuesday as part of its investigation. "The complainant was not sure about the first spot, and he was showing us a large area instead of a particular one; hence, we dug up everywhere but didn't find anything," he added.
A sanitation worker, whose name has not been disclosed, had to bury several bodies, including those of women and children, in Dharmasthala between 1995 and 2014. He had alleged that some of the bodies were found to be sexually assaulted. He has also submitted a statement before a magistrate regarding this.
Also read: Dharmasthala burial case: SIT begins process of exhuming bodies
The SIT led by Mohanty — Director General of Police (Internal Security Division), also includes Deputy Inspector General of Police (Recruitment) MN Anucheth, IPS officers Soumyalatha SK, Jitendra Kumar Dayama. As many as twenty police officials— inspectors, sub-inspectors and head constables have also been deputed.
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