Police personnel deployed in Dharmasthala. (Representative image)
Credit: Special arrangement
Mangaluru: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged mass burial case in Dharmasthala has reportedly found that records of unnatural death (UDR) cases are missing in respect of 38 unidentified bodies disposed of by the local gram panchayat in last few
decades.
During the investigation, the SIT gathered data from the local gram panchayat about unclaimed or unidentified bodies that had been disposed
of.
The team also obtained records of unnatural death cases registered at the Belthangady and Dharmasthala police stations — Dharmasthala earlier came under the jurisdiction of the Belthangady police
station.
However, when the SIT compared both sets of records, it discovered that several cases of unidentified bodies mentioned by the gram panchayat had no corresponding UDR entries in the police station records.
“We have cross-verified documents obtained from both the gram panchayat and the police. So far, we have not found UDR records for about 38 such cases, though the number could be higher. Some of these cases date back two or three decades, so it’s possible the records were lost over time,” SIT sources said.
“According to procedure, whenever an unidentified body is found, it should be disposed of only after the local police register a UDR case and provide written instructions to the panchayat. If any body is buried or disposed of by the panchayat without a police-registered UDR, it would constitute a serious procedural lapse. Post-mortem and related documents must also be preserved in police records,” SIT sources added.
Officials also said that some lapses might have occurred while transferring old records or due to files being misplaced.
“We are investigating this aspect in detail. The absence of UDR records alone does not prove that the 38 bodies were disposed of illegally,” sources
clarified.
The SIT sources further revealed that in several cases of unnatural deaths even the burial locations of the bodies were not forthcoming from the records of the gram panchayat.