Mangaluru, 20 Dec

In another twist to the Dharmasthala mass burials case, the masked complainant, CN Chinnaiah has filed a police complaint against five people who are also implicated in the case - claiming threats to his life.

Chinnaiah, who was recently released on bail after being arrested for perjury said that activists Mahesh Shetty Thimarody, Girish Mattennavar, T Jayanth, Vittala Gowda, and YouTuber Samir MD could harm him and his wife due to his retracted statements in connection with allegations of multiple cases of rape, murder and burials in Dharmasthala, police said on Saturday.

The five members named in Chinnaiah’s complaint had led the campaign demanding justice for 17-year-old Soujanya, who was allegedly raped and murdered on 9 October, 2012, near Dharmasthala. They are accused of allegedly pressurising Chinnaiah to give a false complaint in the Dharmasthala case.

Chinnaiah, who was released from Shivamogga district jail on 18  December after bail, approached the Dharmasthala police station the same evening, accompanied by his wife and sister.

He has urged authorities to provide protection and prevent harassment, holding them responsible for any untoward incident. Belthangady police have registered the complaint.

Last month, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted to probe the case submitted a 3,900-page report to the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Belthangady, naming Chinnaiah, Thimarody, Mattennavar, Jayanth, Gowda, and Sujatha Bhat – who said her daughter Ananya went missing near Dharmasthala years ago.

Chinnaiah, a former sanitation worker, originally claimed that dozens of bodies of women and minors, some bearing marks of sexual assault, were secretly buried between 1995 and 2014 in Dharmasthala, following which the SIT was constituted. The SIT, however, found major inconsistencies in his statements and evidence.