Bengaluru, 5 Sept

A group of women personalities from diverse fields, including actor-theatre activist Arundhati Nag, filmmakers Kavita Lankesh and Suman Kittur, writer-journalist Vijayamma, gender and sexuality rights activist Akkai Padmashali, have written to senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi urging her to ensure that the inquiry into a series of unsolved crimes in Dharmasthala must focus exclusively on delivering justice to women and other victims.

Called “Kondavaru Yaaru? Who Killed the Women in Dharmasthala?”, the campaign by the group of women seeks to bring the focus back to the issue of justice for the victims and dismantling deep-seated structures that perpetuate such violence against women.

“Unfortunately, not even a few weeks into the investigation, the matter has become the subject of intense and often salacious media coverage and political grandstanding. As a result, what should have been a moment for truth and accountability has instead spiralled into intimidatory tactics and attempts to bury justice once again,” read the letter to Gandhi, dated 4 September and signed by nearly 50 women personalities.

The letter pointed out that the reports in the media have been consistently hinting at possible “systematic abuse, murder, rape, and unexplained deaths involving women and students”.

Local activists and journalists in Dakshina Kannada (DK) and women’s rights organisations across Karnataka have also been raising concerns and protesting about the deaths and unnatural disappearances for years now, in particular Soujanya case in 2012, Padmalatha case in 1986 and Vedavalli case in 1979, the letter stated.

According to the group of women, Right to Information (RTI) data between January 2001 and October 2012 shows 424 documented deaths including that of many girls and women in just the two towns of Ujire and Dharmasthala.

The Expert Committee headed by former MP VS Ugrappa, , set up to report on atrocities, violence and sexual crimes against women and children, released its report in 2018, said the letter.

“The committee reported an abnormally high number of unnatural deaths in the region. The committee had asked for a special police force to be constituted in the region and a special investigation to be done which has not been followed to date,” according to the letter.

Meanwhile, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the infamous Dharmasthala skull conspiracy has unearthed startling links stretching from masked YouTubers to local influencers, with allegations of a planned smear campaign against Dharmasthala.

The SIT found that YouTuber Abhishek, who ran the United Media channel, was at the centre of the propaganda drive. During his questioning, investigators discovered connections with other players, including Kerala-based YouTuber Manaf, who has now been served notice.

Manaf is a truck owner from Kerala who lost his driver Arjun in the July 2024 Shiruru landslide on NH-66 in Uttara Kannada.

On 11 July, Manaf uploaded the original video showing a skull being lifted from a forest patch near Bungalow Hill.  

Additionally, Mysuru-based YouTuber Sumanth has alleged that Manaf and Abhishek offered him money to create anti-Dharmasthala content.

The SIT suspects that the skulls were deliberately brought from Bungalow Hill forests to frame Dharmasthala in a web of fabricated charges of rape, murder, and mass burials of women.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday downplayed calls for a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into allegations of multiple murders, rapes and burials in Dharmasthala, saying the case is already being investigated by the state police through a SIT.

The Opposition BJP and JD(S) have also demanded an NIA probe, targeting Congress government over its handling of the case.