ED steps into Dharmasthala row, probes ‘foreign funding’ angle

As the SIT digs up skeletal remains along the Netravathi, the Enforcement Directorate has begun checking whether overseas money was used to stoke communal tensions around the temple town.

Bengaluru: The Enforcement Directorate has initiated a preliminary investigation into the allegations of dubious foreign funding used to fuel communal conspiracies during the ongoing Dharmasthala row in Karnataka, official sources said on Tuesday.

The sources told PTI that the agency is gathering facts and documents related to all entities and stakeholders, including some NGOs, who are alleged to have used suspect funds to stoke controversy.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has initiated a preliminary investigation under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), and further action will be taken if the probe finds proof of foreign funding rule violation and illicit use of funds, the sources said.

The Karnataka BJP held a "Dharmasthala Chalo" rally on Monday to condemn the alleged conspiracy and smear campaign against the temple town in Dakshina Kannada district.

The party has also demanded a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the case, and targeted the Congress government over its handling of the matter.

A controversy erupted after Chinnaiah, a former sanitation worker, claimed that he was forced to bury several bodies, including those of women and minors, some of which bore signs of sexual assault, in Dharmasthala when he was employed at the temple town between 1995 and 2014.

His implications pointed towards the administrators of the local temple. Chinnaiah was later arrested on charges of perjury.

A special investigation team (SIT) formed by the state government is probing the charges, and it has excavated multiple locations identified by the complainant in the forested areas along the banks of the Netravathi River. Some skeletal remains were found at two sites.

On Tuesday, Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge alleged that two activists -- Girish Mattannavar and Mahesh Shetty Thimarody -- whose roles are under the scanner, were associated with the RSS and BJP.

Two separate cases have been registered against Mattannavar and Thimarody for allegedly creating and circulating videos on social media that disturbed communal harmony and offended public sentiments, according to the police.