The witness in Dharmasthala mass burial case.
Credit: DH Photo/ Fakruddin H
Mangaluru: The Belthangady court on Saturday handed over the complainant witness to SIT for 10 days. The SIT is investigating the Dharmasthala mass burial case.
From the court, the police escorted the complainant witness to the SIT office in Belthangady.
SIT SPs Jitendra Kumar Dayama and CA Simon also accompanied him to the SIT office. The SIT will subject the complainant witness to further questioning regarding the case.
According to sources, the complainant witness had earlier claimed that he had exhumed one of the bodies that he had buried, alongside producing a human skull said to belong to it. However, during interrogation, he failed to clearly explain where exactly he had recovered it from.
The SIT questioned him till Friday late night.
During questioning, the complainant witness later admitted that the skull he produced did not belong to the body he had buried. Following this revelation, SIT officials took him into custody.
Unlike in the past, when he was allowed to leave with his legal team after questioning, the officials kept him under their custody on Friday night.
On Saturday morning, he was produced before the court after he went through a medical examination.
The SIT has so far conducted exhumation in 17 out of 18 sites in Dharmasthala village, which the complainant witness had pointed out. Human remains were found in one of the dug-up locations and on the surface in another site. These remains have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for analysis and the report is awaited.