A file photo of 45-year-old Chinnaiah being produced before the magistrate in Belthangady for recording of his voluntary statement.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Eleven days since grant of bail, C.N. Chinnaiah, the complainant, who was later arrested for perjury in the Dharmsthala alleged mass burial case, continues to be in the Shivamogga Central Prison.
Official sources said Chinnaiah is yet to arrange two sureties to get enlarged on bail. On November 24, Principal District and Sessions Court, Dakshina Kannada, had allowed a regular bail application of Chinnaiah and ordered his release on execution of personal bond of ₹ 1 lakh, with two sureties for the like-sum.
From whistleblower to accused
Chinnaiah had filed a complaint with the Dharmasthala Police about burying of lot of bodies in Dharmasthala in the period between 1995 and 2014. He then appeared before the Belthangady court and gave voluntary statement wherein he produced a skull by stating that it was of a woman buried by him.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) investigated into the complaint and dug 18 places showed by Chinnaiah. Skeletal remains were found in three places and all the three skeletal remains were found to be of a male. The skull produced before the Beltangady court was also found to be of a man.
The SIT found that Chinnaiah had given a false complaint and declaration before the Belthangady court. The SIT arrested him on August 23 for perjury and other offences punishable under Sections 227, 228, 229, 230, 231,233, 236, 240, 248 and 336 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Since then he has been in the Shivamogga Central Prison.
SIT chargesheet
On November 20, SIT filed chargesheet (a complaint report under Section 215 of BNSS) against Chinnaiah and four activists Mahesh Shetty Thimarody, Girish Mattennavar, T.Jayanth and Vittala Gowda, after finding that the activists had pressurised Chinnaiah to give false complaint. Sujatha Bhat has also been named as an accused for giving false complaint that her daughter, who was an MBBS student, had gone missing from Dharmasthala.
The Belthangady court is set to decide on taking cognisance of the SIT report on Saturday (December 6, 2025).
Petitions by Soujanya’s mother
Meanwhile, the writ petition filed on November 6 before the High Court of Karnataka by Kusumavathi Gowda, mother of 2012 rape and murder victim Soujanaya, seeking an FIR for each of the unnatural deaths in Dharmasthala between 1990 and 2021, continues to be in the scrutiny stage as defects in the petition have not been addressed.
Similarly, defects are yet to be corrected in the special leave petition filed by Ms. Kusumavathi on November 21 before Supreme Court seeking de-novo investigation into Soujanya murder case.
Published – December 05, 2025 05:49 pm IST
