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2h ago

SIT Summons Sujatha Bhat After She Recants 'Missing Daughter' Claim in Dharmasthala Probe

Her on-camera reversal cites activist pressure linked to a property dispute, putting scrutiny on witness accounts in the Dharmasthala burial investigation.

People gather near a site of an alleged burial related to the Dharmasthala mass burial case, at Dharmasthala, in Dakshina Kannada district.
Police personnel at the office of the SIT constituted to probe the case related to the alleged mass burial in Dharmasthala of Dakshina Kannada district, in Mangaluru,
Security personnel with the whistleblower, who claims to have been coerced into burying and cremating bodies of women and minors, near a site of an alleged burial related to the Dharmasthala mass burial case, at Dharmasthala, in Dakshina Kannada district,
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Overview

  • Sujatha Bhat said there was never a daughter named Ananya and acknowledged the circulated photograph was fake.
  • She alleged activists Girish Mattannavar and T. Jayanti pressed her to make the claim and said no money changed hands.
  • She attributed the fabrication to a dispute over her grandfather’s land that she says was taken by Dharmasthala temple authorities.
  • Her retraction contradicts an earlier complaint alleging a 2003 disappearance as well as her own abduction, assault and month-long coma.
  • The Karnataka police SIT probing alleged undocumented burials has ordered her to appear in Belthangady as it continues exhumations at locations flagged by a whistleblower.