Dharmasthala 'mass burials': SIT searches new location identified by witness

Mangaluru: The SIT probing the Dharmasthala mass burial case carried out searches at a new place identified by the complainant witness on Saturday.

The complainant witness showed a new location enroute to Bahubali Betta in Dharmasthala village. With the exhuming process commencing, in order to prevent the search visuals from being visible to the public, a green shade net was put up near the site.

Puttur AC Stella Varghese, SIT SP Jithendra Kumar Dayama, forensic experts and Scene of Crime Officers (SOCO) were present at the spot.

The complainant witness has shown 15 locations in Dharmasthala village to the SIT team, of which, exhuming has been completed at 14 sites. Initially, he had shown 13 sites near Nethravathi bathing ghat and the forest near to it. Skeletal remains were traced at two locations so far. However, the exhuming process is yet to be taken up at the 13th site near the vented dam.