Overview

• On July 22, the Karnataka government appointed a Special Investigation Team under DGP Pronab Mohanty to examine claims of systematic rape and killings at the Dharmasthala pilgrimage site
• The whistleblower, a Dalit sanitation worker employed from 1995 to 2014, alleges he was coerced under threat to bury hundreds of women and girls who showed signs of sexual assault
• Investigators have obtained photographs of exhumed skeletal remains from initial digs near the Nethravathi river and are preparing further forensic excavations at multiple sites
• Temple spokesperson K. Parshwanath Jain has pledged full cooperation with the probe and urged a transparent examination of the allegations
• Human rights activists and relatives of at least 367 missing or deceased women are pressing the SIT to reopen long-dormant cases and deliver accountability