Dharmasthala case: No human remains found at 13th location

Mangaluru: No human remains were found at the 13th location, identified by complainant witness as part of the alleged mass burials in Dharmasthala, even as the exhumation process witnessed the deployment of drone and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) for the first time by Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Tuesday.

The 14th day of exhumation process had generated intense curiosity among the public as complainant witness had claimed to have buried many dead bodies at the 13th location which was about 15 mts away from the vented day built across Netravathy river near the bathing ghats.

During the construction of a vented dam and road, excavated mud had been dumped at the location-- raising the height of existing ground upto a height of 10 feet.

Thus SIT members had to dig upto a depth of 15 to 20 feet. Even after digging upto a depth of 30 feet and 20 feet width, the members did not come across any human remains.

SIT also had to engaged small and medium sized earth movers to expedite the digging operations. So far out of 17 locations identified by complainant witness, human remains had been found only at two locations so far.

SIT head and Director General of Police (Internal Security Division) Pranav Mohanty who was present at the spot was seen guiding the digging operations and deployment of GPR. SIT Superintendent of Police Jithendra Kumar Dayama, C A Simon, Puttur Assistant Commissioner Stella Varghese were also present during the exhumation process. The complainant witness was also seen assisting SIT teams engaged in the digging operations. Officials from National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) visited the 13th location.

Unlike in previous digging operations, SIT did not place any barricades at the location in order to prevent mediapersons from taking videos or pictures of the exhumation process. As there were three electricity poles in the vicinity, much precaution was taken before engaging the drone and GPR to assist the digging, informed sources in SIT.