Karnataka government sets up SIT to investigate Dharamshala's alleged mass graves, disappearances

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The Karnataka government has set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the alleged mass grave claims, disappearance and crimes against women in Dharamshala over the past few years.

The Karnataka government issued a notice on Saturday, saying that it found it "“appropriate to form a special investigation team” to probe the crime registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at the Dharmasthala Police Station and “all other criminal cases registered/to be registered in other police stations across the state of Karnataka in connection with it."

This has come after the State Commission for Women urged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to form an SIT led by the senior police officers. The commission had said that it was necessary "for a comprehensive and impartial investigation into cases of missing women and female students, unnatural death murder cases, and rape cases in the Dharmasthala area over the last 20 years."

In a letter on July 14, the commission had quoted some media reports from July 12 that included the statement of a family saying that their daughter had gone missing and the statement of a daily-wage labourer, who had claimed that he had himself buried more than 100 bodies in and around Dharamshala.

The SIT that has been formed by the Karnataka government will be headed by director general of police (internal security division) Pranav Mohanty, will include deputy inspector general of police (recruitment) M.N. Anucheth; deputy commissioner of police of City Armed Reserve (CAR) headquarters Soumyalatha; and superintendent of police (internal security division) Jitendra Kumar Dayama.

“The aforementioned case, and all other criminal cases registered to be registered in other police stations across the state of Karnataka in connection with it, shall be transferred to the special investigation team,” the government order said.

The SIT will work from the Dakshina Kannada district police office and will be provided with the necessary officers and staff. The team has been instructed to regularly report the progress of its investigation to the director general and inspector general of police, and to “submit the investigation report to the government expeditiously", media reports have said, quoting the government order.