Mangaluru: The protected witness in the Dharmasthala secret burial case has alleged that an SIT officer threatened him and forced him to make statements on camera to retract and disown his complaint and to implicate outsiders as responsible for his complaint.

In a mail to the SIT, advocate Ananya—representing the witness referred as ‘V’ (identity of the person not revealed due to security reasons)—alleged that on the evening of August 1, police officer Manjunath Gowda summoned the witness to a closed room at the SIT camp in Belthangady. During the interaction, Gowda allegedly warned him of “dire consequences” for filing the complaint, telling him that he would be jailed and taken into custody soon.

The mail stated that with these threats, Manjunath Gowda has coerced 'V' to make statements on camera to retract and disown his complaint and to implicate outsiders as responsible for his complaint.

The mail also stated that the witness stated that Manjunath Gowda recorded his coerced statements on his mobile phone.

Expressing shock over the incident the advocate requested to immediately exclude or remove Manjunath Gowda from the further stages of this investigation and his exclusion would be necessary to allow the complainant-witness to speak freely and without fear during the ongoing investigation.

The SIT is yet to make any statement on this.

The complainant, a former sanitary worker, has alleged that during his service in Dharmasthala he was made to bury the bodies of...

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