Dharmasthala case: Sujatha releases missing daughter Ananya's photo
According to Sujatha, her daughter Ananya, a first-year MBBS student at Kasturba Medical College in Manipal, had travelled to Dharmasthala with classmates when she disappeared
Bengaluru-based Sujatha Bhatt, who had drawn state-wide attention by alleging that her daughter Ananya Bhatt went missing during a visit to Karnataka's Dharmasthala 22 years ago (in 2003), has for the first time released her daughter’s photograph.
This comes amid a storm of controversy triggered by allegations from a former sanitation worker, ‘Bhima’, who claimed that he had buried hundreds of bodies in the temple town of Dharmasthala. Even as Bhima’s claims stirred up a storm, Sujatha came forward to highlight the case of her daughter, who had gone missing in Dharmasthala and filed a complaint.
Ananya's trip with classmates
According to Sujatha, her daughter Ananya, a first-year MBBS student at Kasturba Medical College in Manipal, had travelled to Dharmasthala with classmates when she disappeared.
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After the sanitation worker’s claims, she now believes her daughter’s remains may also be buried in the area.
However, in a highly volatile case, Dharmasthala temple followers have accused Sujatha of making false claims and of not being available to the investigating authorities after filing the police complaint.
Sujatha blames police
On Saturday (August 16), as a counter to these allegations, Sujatha released a video through her lawyer in which she showed her daughter’s photograph.
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Sujatha alleged that when she tried to file a complaint at the Beltangady police station, the police not only refused to register it, and scolded her and sent her away.
Later, she claimed she was abducted and tortured, and was in a coma for some time. In her complaint, she also requested that the skeletal remains that had been recovered after Bhima’s allegations be handed over to her, believing they might belong to her daughter.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT), set up by the Karnataka government, is probing the Dharmasthala case.
(This article was originally published in The Federal Karnataka)
