Bengaluru: In a dramatic twist to the ongoing Dharmasthala investigation, Sujatha Bhat, the woman whose allegations of a missing daughter triggered a high-profile SIT probe into alleged mass graves, sexual assault, and disappearances, has now publicly retracted her claims, admitting they were fabricated.

Speaking to Republic Kannada, Sujatha admitted that the story about her daughter Ananya Bhat, a medical student who she alleged went missing in 2003 during a visit to Dharmasthala, was not true. She now claims that Ananya was not her daughter at all, but the child of her friends, Aravind and Vimala, from Suratkal near Mangaluru.

“I made up the story of Ananya Bhat for the sake of the property taken away from the family… I didn’t know it would go this far. My intentions were different. Please spare me,” Sujatha said in the interview.

According to media reports, Sujatha was influenced by a few people due to a property dispute with Dharmasthala temple authorities, which she says motivated her to falsely implicate the temple in a fabricated disappearance case.

She claimed that she had helped raise Ananya as a child while frequently visiting Aravind and Vimala's house. According to Sujatha, the family had once travelled together to Dharmasthala and Kukke Subrahmanya, where Ananya allegedly disappeared. She claimed she saw men dragging the girl behind Bahubali betta and later saw her body, a claim now being questioned by investigators.

What else has she revealed?

In a shocking new claim, Sujatha said Aravind and Vimala had died by suicide and that their Suratkal house had burned down. She produced a letter, allegedly from the couple, urging her to reveal the truth about Ananya's disappearance.

However, officials from the Special Investigation Team (SIT) have cast doubt on Sujatha’s identity, revealing that her surname is not Bhat and that she has no daughter. They also stated that the photograph she previously showed to the media as her daughter’s was not genuine.

What did Sijatha Bhat claim earlier?

Earlier, Sujatha’s complaint had sparked massive public outcry and led the Karnataka government to form an SIT to investigate allegations of multiple murders, sexual assaults, and illegal burials in Dharmasthala. The case took a further twist when another complainant, C.N. Chinnaiah, who alleged mass burials and claimed to have buried victims, was arrested by the SIT over inconsistencies in his statement.

Whistle-blower arrested

Meanwhile, the SIT on Saturday arrested whistle-blower C N Chinnaiah, a former sanitation worker who alleged he had buried multiple bodies during his time working in Dharmasthala between 1995 and 2014. He also claimed some victims had been sexually assaulted. However, inconsistencies in his statements led to his arrest and further investigation.