Overview

• Investigators searched activist Mahesh Shetty Thimarody’s Ujire residence with a Belthangady court warrant, saying he sheltered complainant C N Chinnaiah for about two months, and continued evidence collection at the site.
• Chinnaiah, arrested on August 23 for perjury after FSL reported the remains he produced were male, is in SIT custody until September 3 and is being questioned as officers seek his missing phone and prepare notices to associates.
• The SIT says the skull presented in court was a preserved research specimen rather than proof of mass burials, while earlier digs recovered limited skeletal material with further forensic analyses pending.
• Karnataka home minister G. Parameshwara ruled out handing the case to the NIA, asserting the SIT will carry the inquiry to conclusion and urging political restraint as the probe proceeds.
• The BJP announced a statewide ‘Dharmasthala Chalo’ on September 1 to press for an NIA probe, and the SIT also questioned Sujata Bhat, who has given conflicting statements about a daughter she reported missing in 2003.