Masked Man, A Skull, Mass Grave Claim: Decoding The Dharmasthala Conspiracy

A masked man, skull in hand, walked into a police station in Karnataka's temple town, Dharmasthala, on July 3 and made chilling allegations about a mass grave where hundreds of women, many of them victims of sexual assault, were buried.

The man, later identified as CN Chinnayya, said he was forced to bury these bodies between the 1990s and 2000s, and had approached the police because he was overwhelmed by guilt. The wild allegations played into rumblings in the town over the disappearance of young girls over decades and catapulted Dharmasthala to national limelight.

The weeks that followed the shocking revelations were full of twists and turns. Human remains were found in only two of the 13 spots CN Chinnayya identified as graves. As Chinnayya's allegations came under the lens, his former wife and acquaintances said he was a habitual liar. He was arrested for perjury, lying under oath, and later told police that he was coerced into making such allegations as part of the conspiracy.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Karnataka Police is now working to unravel this conspiracy, which attempted to capitalise on allegations of mysterious disappearances from the temple town.

A political storm has, meanwhile, broken out as the BJP accuses the Congress government of defaming the temple town and demands a National Investigation Agency probe. The ruling party has emphasised that a central agency investigation is not necessary and that the NIA is well-equipped to handle this matter.

To understand how a masked man's wild allegations prompted a full-fledged probe, there is a need to look at the temple town's history, its mysterious disappearances, and many unresolved questions.

The Manjunathswamy temple and its current head, Veerendra Heggade

The Temple

Dharmasthala, nearly 300 km from Bengaluru, is home to the 800-year-old Manjunatheswara Swamy Temple. The temple is unique because its priests are Vaishnav Brahmins, and a Jain family runs the administration.

According to legend, the guardian angels of Dharma appeared in Jain chieftain Birmanna Pergade's dreams and asked him to vacate his home for their worship. The home, Nelliadi Beedu, was transformed into a temple, and Birmanna Pergade's successors have since controlled the temple administration.

In every generation, the eldest male member of the family becomes the chief administrator -- called Dharma Adhikari -- and assumes the title Heggade. The current Dharma Adhikari is Veerendra Heggade. The 76-year-old is a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha and heads the SDM Educational Society that runs several institutions.

The temple exercises considerable influence in the region, and regardless of who is in power, no party wants to court trouble.

The rape-murder of Sowjanya, 17, in Dharmasthala sparked a massive row

Mysterious Disappearances, And False Claims

For decades now, there have been rumblings about women, many of them minors, disappearing from Dharmasthala and ending up dead. There were also allegations of institutional cover-ups.

The first such allegation goes back to 1987, when Padmalatha, a 17-year-old girl, was found dead. Her family alleged rape and murder. The case was never solved.

Another such case that made national headlines was the rape and murder of 17-year-old Sowjanya in 2012. A day after she went missing, Sowjanya's body was found in a forest area, her clothes torn.

The case was initially investigated by the state police and later handed over to the CBI. The prime accused, Santhosh Rao, was acquitted in 2023 due to a lack of evidence. The Karnataka High Court last year rejected a request for a fresh probe, saying "no purpose will be served".

Interestingly, amid the ongoing row, a woman named Sujata Bhat filed a complaint that her 19-year-old daughter, Ananya, went missing during a college trip to Dharmasthala. She later retracted her allegations and said her family has a property dispute with the temple, and some persons associated with the case pushed her to make these allegations. Sujata Bhat said she has no daughter. She made another U-turn and said she does have a daughter, but was coerced by YouTubers to lie. 

Unconfirmed reports put the number of missing persons and unnatural deaths in Dharmasthala to around 400, but there has been no in-depth probe that could establish such claims.

The 'masked man', later identified as CN Chinnayya

The 'Mass Grave' Conspiracy

With Chinnayya naming those who compelled him to make the 'mass grave' claim, the SIT's focus has shifted to the conspiracy behind the chilling allegations.

According to sources in the Karnataka police, the plot was in the making for months. A team went to Delhi, met Supreme Court lawyers, and filed a petition in March. This petition included an image of a skull, the same one that Chinnayya later carried into a police station. The Supreme Court refused to entertain the petition and asked the petitioners to approach a Karnataka court.

The investigators also found that before he went to the police station with the skull and sought witness protection, Chinnayya gave interviews to a group of YouTubers about his claims of mass burials. But these videos could not be aired because he then went to the police and was placed under witness protection. Interestingly, he was unmasked in these videos, indicating that protecting his identity was not a priority for the 45-year-old, hailed as a whistleblower a month ago.

Questions surround the skull he was carrying. Chinnayya has given conflicting accounts of where he got it. The investigators suspect it is not from Dharmasthala. A forensic report is awaited.

The SIT is now preparing to question more individuals linked to the case. If their explanations are found to be unsatisfactory, further arrests are expected. The conspirators, it is suspected, used the mystery surrounding disappearances in Dharmasthala to manufacture the mass grave theory.

BJP leaders visited the temple and condemned attempts to malign it

The Political Fallout

The mass grave allegations have, predictably, sparked a massive political row. The opposition BJP has organised a march to Dharmasthala to protest what it calls a conspiracy to defame the temple. BJP MP Tejasvi Surya said Dharmasthala was "a victim of an organised conspiracy" and demanded a CBI probe.

The Congress government, however, has maintained that the state police is equipped to handle the probe and get to the bottom of the matter. State Home Minister G Parameshwara said "truth should come out" and that the SIT is probing the issue. "I feel that the SIT is capable and is doing its job dedicatedly. There is no need for NIA probe. I am getting the matter investigated cautiously by senior police officers," he said.

Interestingly, his cabinet colleague Satish Jarkiholli welcomed an NIA probe. "We have to find out if someone has purposely done it, you are right there needs to be a detailed probe, the attention of the entire state seems to be drawn to this issue itself, therefore to once and for all get clarity let there be a NIA or an even higher probe if needed, there's no problem regarding that," he has said.

The temple, meanwhile, has welcomed the SIT probe. K Parshwanath Jain, a spokesperson, said, "Truth and belief are the strongest foundation for a society's ethics and faith. Therefore, it is our sincere hope and earnest demand that the SIT conduct the highest level of investigation in this case and bring out facts to light."