Overview

• Under a witness protection order, a former Dharmasthala temple sanitation worker recorded his statement under Section 164 and offered to lead police to alleged burial sites
• A First Information Report was lodged on July 4 under section 211(a) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and investigators have sought court approval for exhumations and forensic tests
• Home Minister G Parameshwara said an SIT will be constituted based on the needs of the case once preliminary investigations are complete
• Retired Supreme Court judge V Gopala Gowda and advocacy groups have demanded an independent SIT under judicial supervision and full protection for the whistleblower
• CPI Rajya Sabha MP Sandosh Kumar has written to the Union Home Minister seeking an NIA takeover, citing signs of an organised criminal enterprise