No need to handover Dharmasthala probe to NIA, SIT is doing its job: Minister Parameshwara

Bengaluru, Sep 2 (PTI) Ruling out an NIA probe in the Dharmasthala case, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Tuesday said that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) is doing its job.

Amid reports about the Enforcement Directorate being likely to probe into alleged funding from some NGOs for a "conspiracy" against Dharmasthala, he said they are free to conduct their investigation.

"I have already said several times that there is no need to hand over the probe to the NIA. We have constituted the SIT and it is doing its job. So there is no need to give the case to another agency. The chief minister has also said the same thing," Parameshwara said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said the BJP is taking forward its demand in different ways every day, but there is no need to hand over the case to the NIA.

"Until the SIT probe is complete, we cannot comment on anything related to the investigation as it may hamper it. I don't know what the BJP's intention is. Do they want to hamper the investigation? I somehow feel so, because the investigation is on, there is nothing wrong with the probe. If there is something wrong with the investigation we can give it to a different agency...," he added.

Opposition BJP has demanded a NIA probe into the case while targeting the Congress government over its handling of the case.

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.

The SIT, formed by the state government, which is probing charges, has conducted excavations at multiple locations identified by the complainant in the forested areas along the banks of the Netravathi River in Dharmasthala, where some skeletal remains were found at two sites.

Responding to a question on reports about the ED likely to probe regarding funds from some NGOs in the alleged conspiracy against Dharmasthala, the home minister said let the central agency do its investigation.

"Can we say no to their investigation? They will probe in their angle related to financial matters and other things...we don't know their terms of reference. They usually probe into financial matters. Let them do it," he said.

To a question about Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Monday alleging that the BJP was behind the "conspiracy" targeting Dharmasthala, Parameshwara said he may have different information.

Regarding SIT chief Pronab Mohanty meeting him, the home minister said he had come to discuss and brief on different things, as he is also Internal Security Division (ISD) incharge.

Asked about a woman now claiming that Soujanya was kidnapped and she had seen it, and whether her claims will be investigated, he said, "The SIT will look into it." Soujanya, a 17-year-old student, was allegedly raped and murdered in Dharmasthala in 2012. PTI KSU KH