Mangaluru: Nearly three weeks after a former sanitation worker claimed he was forced to secretly dispose of several bodies in Dharmasthala in the past 20 years, Karnataka govt has ordered formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to conduct a comprehensive probe into all cases related to the mass burial and submit a report to the govt.Dakshina Kannada superintendent of police Dr Arun K said the SIT will take over the case soon. An order issued on July 19 said DGP (internal security division) Pronab Mohanty will lead the team with IPS officers MN Anucheth, Soumyalatha and Jitendra Kumar Dayama as members.While welcoming the SIT probe, Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala said the case has sparked “widespread debate, speculation, and confusion at the national level in recent days. In light of our expectations, as well as that of the general public, for a fair and transparent investigation, it is understood that the government has transferred the case to SIT.”“Truth and belief are the strongest foundation for a society’s ethics and faith. Therefore, it is our sincere hope and earnest demand that the SIT conducts the highest level of investigation in this case and brings out the truth to light,” said a statement from K. Parshwanath Jain, spokesperson of Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala.The govt order said all criminal cases reported or likely to be reported in all police stations across the state will be transferred to the SIT. A real-time probe progress report will be submitted to the DG&IGP periodically, according to the order signed by the under-secretary to the home department.Following the explosive claim by the former sanitation worker, Karnataka State Women’s Commission and a group of advocates led by former Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes Chairman had recently met chief minister Siddaramaiah and demanded an SIT probe into the case. They had demanded a probe monitored by a sitting or retired judge of the Supreme Court or high court to probe cases of disappearances, unnatural deaths, and sexual assaults in Dharmasthala over the past 20 years.The sanitation worker submitted a written complaint to the SP’s office on July 3, and Dharmasthala police registered a case the next day. The complainant claimed he recently returned to one of the burial sites, exhumed skeletal remains of a body and submitted photographs to the authorities. He has sought legal protection.On July 15, the mother of Ananya Bhat, a medical student missing from Dharmasthala since 2003, approached the Dakshina Kannada SP seeking a thorough investigation into her daughter’s disappearance.GFX * June 22: Advocates Ojaswi Gowda and Sachin Deshpande informed a former sanitation worker willing to visit Dharmasthala police and exhume bodies buried in temple town* June 27: Advocates from Bengaluru meet Dakshina Kannada SP * July 3: Sanitation worker lodges a complaint with SP* July 4: Dharmasthala police register case* July 10: Complainant gets cover under Witness Protection Scheme, 2018* July 11: Complainant appears before a Belthangady court* July 15: Sujatha Bhat, whose medico-daughter missing from Dharmasthala since 2003 approaches seeks probe into her disappearance* July 16: Advocates allege confidential-information leak, seek high-level probeTruth and belief are the strongest foundation for society’s ethics and faith. Therefore, it is our sincere hope and earnest demand that SIT conducts the highest level of investigation in the case and brings truth to light.— K Parshwanath Jain | Shri Kshetra Dharmasthala