In a dramatic turn of events, a woman who complained about the disappearance of her daughter from a temple in Karnataka's Dharmasthala in 2003 has backtracked and claimed she was "misled" by some people she had approached for help in a property dispute involving the religious place.
Speaking to NDTV, Sujata, who filed a police complaint in July about the alleged disappearance of her daughter from the Dharmasthala temple, said she was distressed back then but is now ready to "seek forgiveness for her sins".
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the state police are probing allegations of multiple burials, murders and rapes in Dharmasthala, which has drawn wide public and political attention. A controversy erupted last month after a "masked" man, later identified as C N Chinnayya, claimed burying a number of bodies, including those of women with signs of sexual assault in Dharmasthala over a period of time, with the implications pointing towards the administrators of the local temple. He was later arrested on charges of perjury.
Days later, Sujata claimed her daughter Ananya, a medical student, went missing from the temple premises in 2003.
"Ananya was a made-up name. A YouTuber named Shivashankar, who runs a channel 'Hai Karunadu', created this name and I followed that," she said, suggesting she was made to raise the allegation by the YouTuber during an interview.
Sujata, who was recently probed by the SIT, said her distress originated from a property dispute with her father.
"I had issues related to my father's property. My family treated me as though I was dead. I received information that the property was given to Veerendra Heggade. Later, I learned that all the children's signatures were required before selling the property, but that wasn't done. It caused me great emotional pain," she said.
Veerendra is the Dharmadhikari or the custodian of the temple.
According to Sujata, she met an activist Girish Mattanavar and another individual Jayant T - both of whom had supported C N Chinnayya's claims - who then took her to Delhi to meet a lawyer named Dhananjaya.
"They made me make false allegations against Harshendra Heggade, Veerendra's brother..," she said.
She said she used a photo of a woman named Vasanthi to claim that she was her daughter Ananya. "In reality, Vasanthi is the wife of Rangaprasad's son," she said. "I didn't know what the plan was or that the masked man with the skull would be with us. Advocate Dhananjay is not at fault. They misused me."
She said she has shared all the details with the SIT which, she claimed, treated her fairly and did not pressure her.
"I am old now and only wish to apologise to everyone. I know there will be no justice for me, but I have never spoken ill about Dharmasthala or Veerendra Heggade. People took advantage of me and have now abandoned me," she said.
"If nothing improves, I wish to go to Dharmasthala within a week, fall at the feet of Veerendra Heggade, and seek forgiveness for my sins. After that, I will decide how to move forward. I feel that death may be the only option left for me, as I have no means to live anymore," she added.
The SIT probe into the allegations involving Dharmasthala is underway.
