Our aim is to make people aware of facts in Dharmasthala case: D K Shivakumar

Bengaluru: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday said that the only objective of the government is to make people aware of the facts in connection with the allegations of multiple murders, rapes and burials in Dharmasthala.

He was responding to Dharmasthala temple Dharmadhikari Veerendra Heggade’s statement on Friday, where he had expressed his gratitude to the government for constituting the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the case, due to which the truth is coming out.

“Let the report (SIT probe report) come. I have seen his (Veerendra Heggade) statement in the media. There is no point in speaking on the matter until the final report comes. People may speak politically, but I can’t do it being a part of the government. Either home minister or chief minister will make an official statement after the report comes,” Shivakumar said in response to a question.

Speaking to reporters here, he said, the objective of the government is to make people aware of the facts.

A controversy erupted after a complainant, later identified as C N Chinnaiah and arrested on charges of perjury, claimed burying a number of bodies, including those of women with signs of sexual assault, in Dharmasthala over a period of past two decades, with the implications pointing towards the administrators of the local temple.

To a question on reports about the Supreme Court in May, dismissing the writ petition filed by the complainant and those behind him, in connection with their allegations in the Dharmasthala case, Shivakumar said, “I don’t want to comment on it now. We are aware that they had approached the Supreme Court, projecting it as a PIL, and the court admonished them and sent them back. They had reportedly even taken a skull to Delhi, we have information about it. Let it (fact) come from the department (SIT probe).”