The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has launched an inquiry into allegations of mass secret burials in Dharmasthala, a temple town in Karnataka, India. This investigation was initiated suo motu, meaning the NHRC is acting on its own accord without having received any formal complaints.
A four-member NHRC team, led by Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Yuvaraj and DySP Ravi Singh, has arrived in Belthangady taluk to gather information and records from various sources. The team's investigation began with visits to key local institutions, including the Dharmasthala Gram Panchayat office, the Dharmasthala police station, the Dharmasthala temple premises, and the Special Investigation Team (SIT) office.
The NHRC team is collecting comprehensive details of unnatural death cases registered over the past decades from the Dharmasthala police station. They are also gathering information on unclaimed bodies buried in the village over the past decades from the Dharmasthala Gram Panchayat office. This includes details on the number of laborers engaged for body burial during this period and whether all of them are still alive. The officials are also visiting the homes of some laborers who had buried the bodies to record their statements. Additionally, a sanitation worker currently employed by the Gram Panchayat was summoned to the Panchayat office for collecting further details. The team has also recorded a statement from the complainant witness in the case.
The NHRC team also inspected the site near the road to Bahubali Betta in Dharmasthala, where the SIT team had conducted an exhuming process on August 9. The team is checking whether the Gram Panchayat and local police disposed of unidentified bodies as per procedure and whether there were any lapses. They are recording statements from the complainant witness, his advocates, his supporters, and those opposing the investigation. The NHRC will also review the direction in which the SIT probe is progressing.
The NHRC's visit is expected to continue for four to five days as of August 11, 2025, and they may stay longer if needed. The team aims to collect information from all angles.
This NHRC investigation occurs while the SIT continues its probe into the mass burial case in Dharmasthala. The SIT has begun preparations to start excavation work on Tuesday at the 13th burial site in the temple town using drone-mounted Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) technology. An unidentified complainant has claimed that he buried over a dozen bodies of women and girls who were allegedly sexually assaulted and murdered. He requested that the bodies be exhumed in his presence and alleged that the victims bore clear signs of sexual assault. According to him, the bodies were found without clothing or undergarments and had injuries consistent with violent sexual abuse.
On July 11, 2025, the unidentified complainant appeared before a court in Mangaluru district and recorded his statement. The whistleblower reportedly submitted a skull allegedly recovered from one of the burial sites to the SIT. On August 7, 2025, Karnataka Home Minister G. Parameshwara confirmed that the SIT probing the alleged mass grave case recovered a male skeleton and other bones during the excavation, and they have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL). Earlier reports indicated that a torn red blouse and a PAN card belonging to a woman named Lakshmi were recovered from the first burial site.
