Dharmasthala devotees’ plea: Karnataka HC notices to govt, SIT

Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday ordered notices to the state government, the Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the Dharmasthala burial case; the Income Tax Department, and the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in a petition filed by four devotees of Shree Kshetra Dharmasthala Temple.

The petitioners contended that the SIT and other authorities had not taken any action on their complaints/representations against Mahesh Shetty Thimarody, Girish Mattannavar and several YouTubers. 

The petitioners are Tejas A Gowda, a resident of Bengaluru, Dhanakirthi Ariga, Bhaskar Badekottu and Surendra Prabhu, all three residents of Belthangady taluk in Dakshina Kannada district. They claimed that the persons named by them in the complaint were funded to spread a “malicious campaign/conspiracy” against Dharmasthala Manjunatha Swamy Temple, its Dharmadhikari and his family members as well as associated institutions. .

According to the petitioners, the SIT had found that the initial complaint filed by a former sanitation worker at the temple was “false and vexatious”. The SIT named the worker as an accused and arrested him.

They stated that the authorities, including the SIT, had not taken any action despite submitting representations in August and September 2025.