New Delhi: Police have exhumed human remains from Dharmasthala, a historic temple town in Karnataka, as part of an investigation into allegations that hundreds of murder and rape victims were secretly buried there since the mid-1990s, officials said on Tuesday.
The probe was launched after a former sanitation worker of the 800-year-old temple dedicated to Lord Shiva alleged that he was forced by senior authorities to bury hundreds of bodies over the past two decades.
In his police complaint filed on July 4, he claimed many of the victims were women and girls who showed signs of sexual assault.
Police said the excavation is ongoing, and forensic teams have been called to examine the remains. Authorities added that investigations would continue to verify the worker’s claims and to identify the victims.
