Bengaluru, June 12 (IANS) Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unit State General Secretary and senior MLA V. Sunil Kumar has demanded that the Karnataka government immediately make public the report of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted to probe the Dharmasthala case.

Speaking to the media at the BJP state office on Friday, he said several months had passed since the SIT was formed, yet its report had not been disclosed. He urged the government to reveal who was behind the case.

Sunil Kumar alleged that the famous Hindu pilgrimage centre of Dharmasthala was being needlessly defamed. He said that the statement made before the court by an accused person allegedly linked to a larger conspiracy was shocking.

“We had raised this issue on different occasions in the Assembly and through the party. We had stated that there were links to Kerala and connections to other states behind this matter,” he said.

Questioning the SIT’s investigation, he remarked that if the accused had made statements before the court that were not disclosed before the SIT, it raised serious concerns about the nature of the probe. “What was the SIT investigating? What is the conspiracy behind all this? These issues must be brought into the public domain and discussed openly,” he said.

Referring to Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar’s earlier remarks in the Assembly, Sunil Kumar said Shivakumar had declared himself to be on the side of Dharmasthala while quoting the Kannada saying, “Kaasu bidada Thimmappa, maatu bidada Manjunatha” (Thimmappa who never parts with money, Manjunatha who never parts with his word).

“Merely having ‘Shiva’ in one’s name is not enough. Those who have defamed Dharmasthala should have been arrested and put behind bars by the government,” he said.

Earlier, Karnataka BJP President and MLA B.Y. Vijayendra on Friday alleged that a “major conspiracy” had been hatched to tarnish the reputation of the revered Dharmasthala Sri Manjunatheshwara Temple in Mangaluru district and hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus.

He has also sought a probe into the involvement of foreign forces in the incident.

In a major twist in the ongoing Dharmasthala skull case, Chinnayya, popularly known as the “mask man”, who had earlier made allegations in the mass grave case, has claimed that he was used as part of a conspiracy to malign Dharmasthala, the prominent Hindu pilgrimage centre in Karnataka.

After these sensational allegations, action is likely to be taken against the activists who spearheaded the agitation and the legal battle demanding action against the temple management, police said on Friday.

Chinnayya has also alleged that he was told that Rs 200 crore had been set aside to ensure that Dharmadhikari Veerendra Heggade was sent to jail.

In his petition, he has further mentioned the name of actor Prakash Raj and claimed that the activists had promised him Rs 50 lakh if their plan succeeded.

–IANS

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