A court has remanded the complainant in the Dharmasthala case to 14 days of judicial custody. He has been taken to Shivamogga jail following the order.
Belthangady, Karnataka: In a major development in the Dharmasthala case, a court in Belthangady on Saturday remanded 45-year-old Chinnaiah, the complainant in the case, to judicial custody for 14 days. Following the order, police shifted him to Shivamogga prison.
Chinnaiah, a former sanitation worker, had been in the custody of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) for questioning. On Saturday, his SIT custody ended, and he was produced before Additional Civil Judge and JMFC H. Vijayendra, who passed the judicial custody order.
The SIT, which is investigating the case, has widened its probe into the circumstances surrounding skeletal remains that Chinnaiah had earlier produced before the magistrate.
As part of this investigation, the SIT on Saturday questioned Vittal Gowda, the uncle of Soujanya, the college student who was raped and murdered near Dharmasthala in October 2012.
Officials took Gowda to Banglagudde for a mazahar (spot inspection) and later brought him back to the SIT office in Belthangady.
The SIT has also been searching locations linked to people associated with Chinnaiah. Recently, the homes of activist Mahesh Shetty Timarody and his brother Mohan Shetty were searched, as Chinnaiah had reportedly stayed there before his arrest.
Investigators have also questioned activist T. Jayanth, while searching his Bengaluru house where Chinnaiah allegedly kept the skeletal remains for some days before travelling to New Delhi and later returning to Dharmasthala to lodge his police complaint.
The probe has further revealed that Chinnaiah stayed in two different service apartments in Bengaluru. SIT officials confirmed that both premises have now been searched.
Meanwhile, digital evidence has also come under scrutiny. The SIT questioned a YouTuber named Abhishek regarding videos of the exhumation of skeletal remains.
Another YouTuber, Abdul Munaf from Kozhikode, has been served a notice. Both were said to have recorded the exhumation and uploaded the footage on social media platforms, drawing wider public attention to the case.
This series of developments marks a significant stage in the ongoing probe, with the SIT tightening its focus on people who were in close contact with Chinnaiah during the period when he was allegedly in possession of the skeletal remains.
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