Mangaluru: Brothers, Nitin and Nitesh, filed a complaint with the SIT probing charges of murders and burials in Dharmasthala, regarding their younger sister, Hemalatha, who went missing in 2012 after visiting the town and never returned. The Special Investigation Team, formed by the state government, is probing allegations of multiple murders, rapes, and burials across different places in Dharmasthala over the past two decades. The investigation first began based on the complaint filed by a former sanitation worker, whose identity has not been revealed. Speaking to reporters after lodging their complaint, Nitin said it has been 13 years with no information about his sister. When they came to know that SIT is collecting information on missing persons, they decided to make a complaint, he said.
Hemalatha, then 17 and a resident of Kavala Muduru village in Bantwal taluk, had gone to Dharmasthala accompanied by a woman neighbour but never returned. When questioned, the woman accompanying her denied having gone with her, Nitin said. Though the brothers had previously filed a complaint at the Poonjalakatte police station and visited multiple stations over the years, the case remained unresolved. Nitin added that their sister, who had studied up to the 8th standard and helped at home thereafter, had no mobile phone. He said they had searched as thoroughly as possible but found no clues. Encouraged by the SIT's latest efforts, they firmly believe that interrogating the woman who accompanied her might unearth the truth.