Overview

• Sujatha Bhat was examined for a second straight day, after issuing conflicting statements about a 2003 disappearance and lodging a fresh complaint in July.
• Principal complainant C N Chinnaiah was arrested on August 23 for allegedly furnishing false evidence after FSL tests found the skull he produced was male, and he remains in SIT custody until September 3.
• Investigators say the skull appears to be a preserved laboratory specimen, and they searched activist Mahesh Shetty Thimarody’s Ujire home—where Chinnaiah had stayed—conducting the search with the accused present.
• Exhumations have yielded remains at two locations identified during the probe, with DNA and other laboratory analyses pending to establish identities and timelines.
• The BJP has announced a September 1 ‘Dharmasthala Chalo’ rally to press for an NIA probe, while Home Minister G Parameshwara and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar back the SIT and oppose a central takeover.