Karnataka Orders SIT to Fast-Track Dharmasthala Case as Forensic Reports Awaited

Overview

• Home minister G. Parameshwara said the SIT has been instructed to speed up the probe and is awaiting FSL results from newly collected materials.
• Searches across forested tracts along the Netravathi River yielded skeletal remains at two sites, with additional fragments found near Banglegudde earlier this month.
• The principal complainant, C. N. Chinnaiah, was arrested on perjury charges after alleging long-running murders, sexual assaults, and clandestine burials.
• Parameshwara noted that a Supreme Court order from May dismissing a related writ could be considered in the SIT’s final report.
• The Karnataka High Court granted an interim stay on an externment order against activist Mahesh Shetty Thimarodi, pausing coercive action until October 8 with the next hearing set for that date.