Dharmasthala case: Belthangady court asks SIT to submit final report

The Belthangady JMFC court has declined the request of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) seeking permission to initiate action against the accused in the 'mass burials' case, as per the complaint report submitted by it.

The court clarified that an order on this matter would be passed only after submission of the final report. 

The SIT was required to submit its report within 90 days of the arrest of the complainant witness. While the complainant witness, Chinnaiah C N, was in judicial custody, SIT submitted a 3,900-page report on Nov 20 under Sec 215 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).

In its report, SIT explained how false evidence had been produced and how the court was allegedly misled in the case. The SIT had sought directions for investigation under Sec 379 of BNSS against accused Chinnaiah C N, Mahesh Shetty Thimmarody, Girish Mattannavar, Jayanth T, Vittal Gowda and Sujatha Bhat for allegedly misleading the court.

The court noted the SIT’s observation in its report that Mahesh Shetty Thimmarody, Girish Mattannavar, Jayanth T, Vittal Gowda and Sujatha Bhat had not cooperated with the investigation. However, based on the report presently submitted by SIT, the court said it would not pass any order at this stage and directed the SIT to submit final report in the case, said additional civil judge T H Vijayendra.

Meanwhile, Parshwanath Jain, spokesperson of Dharmasthala Manjunatha temple, had filed an application seeking permission of the court to be impleaded in the proceedings as the temple was a victim in the case, on Dec 31, 2025.

As public prosecutor Divyaraj Hegde sought time to file objections to the temple’s application, the judge adjourned the hearing on that matter to January 23.