Overview

• The Karnataka SIT added multiple BNS sections for perjury, fabrication and forgery against complainant C.N. Chinnaiah, with the new counts tied to a skull he submitted to a Belthangady court.
• The team is testing whether the skull came from outside the alleged burial sites, including planned sampling at activist Mahesh Shetty Thimmarody’s rubber plantation to compare trace material.
• Systematic digs across more than a dozen locations yielded only partial male remains and bone fragments, with DNA and provenance analysis continuing at the Bengaluru FSL.
• Sowjanya’s mother filed a fresh complaint seeking to reopen the unresolved 2012 rape‑murder case and requested a narco‑analysis of Chinnaiah based on his statements.
• Political pressure has escalated as the BJP presses for an NIA takeover and organizes rallies, while the state government defends the SIT’s mandate to complete a scientific inquiry.