India, July 20 -- The Karnataka government has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the alleged mass graves, disappearances, and crimes against women and students in Dharmasthala over the past two decades.

A government order issued on Saturday said that it found it "appropriate to form a special investigation team" to probe the crime registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at the Dharmasthala Police Station and "all other criminal cases registered/to be registered in other police stations across the state of Karnataka in connection with it."

State Commission for Women had urged chief minister Siddaramaiah to form a SIT, headed by senior police officers, "for a comprehensive and im...