BJP demands NIA probe to expose 'conspirators' behind Dharmasthala case

The Karnataka BJP on Saturday urged the Congress government to hand over the Dharmasthala case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), alleging a “large-scale conspiracy” involving foreign funds and external forces behind the complainant who levelled sensational charges of “multiple murders, rapes and burials” in Dharmasthala over the past two decades.

The complainant, identified as C.N. Chinnaiah, was arrested on Saturday. However, the BJP maintained that the arrest alone was insufficient and demanded that the government “expose the conspirators” behind him.

“This complainant is not important; those behind him are. If the Congress wants to prove it is conducting a fair probe and not insulting Hindus, it must either form a separate SIT or hand the case over to the NIA,” said Leader of Opposition R. Ashoka. He further claimed that foreign money had funded the campaign and therefore warranted an NIA investigation.

Ashoka alleged that the Congress government had restricted police action to exhumations in forested areas near the Netravathi river, where skeletal remains were reportedly found. “Just arresting the complainant is not enough. This conspiracy has a religious conversion angle and must be fully exposed,” he said.