Dharmasthala case: Sujata Bhat does a U-turn on ‘missing daughter’

Amid the ongoing SIT probe in Dharmasthala on alleged suspicious deaths and burials, Sujata Bhat, who had earlier claimed that her daughter, Ananya Bhat, went missing after a trip to Dharmasthala in 2003, has now stated that she never had a daughter. She said she had made a false complaint, at the instigation of Girish Mattannavar, Jayanth T. and others.

In an interview to a YouTube channel InsightRush, Ms. Bhat claimed she never had a daughter. “I had a grouse that my grandfather’s ancestral property was given away without my signature. All I wanted to ask was that. Girish Mattannavar and others provoked me and made me claim that my daughter had gone missing in Dharmasthala,” she said, apologising to the people for making false claims.

“I also had a grouse that our God was given away to Jains. A few months ago, Girish Mattannavar met me and said he would stand by me. They have not given me any money. I did not know my complaint would blow up this big,” she told the YouTube channel, in an interview on Friday. She also clarified that the photo she had recently shown to the media claiming to be that of her daughter was also fake.

Sources said the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that had been given charge of the case recently, had served a notice on Ms. Bhat to appear before them. Police had already found that several claims made by Ms. Bhat — that Ananya Bhat was studying at Kasturba Medical College in 2003 when she went missing and that she was then working at the CBI office, Kolkata — was false.

With this U-turn by Ms. Bhat, allegations of a “conspiracy” to defame Dharmasthala, by BJP and even Deputy Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar, are expected to get louder.