Bengaluru, July 21 -- The Karnataka government has constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to probe allegations of mass burials, sexual assault, and disappearances of women in Dharmasthala area of Dakshina Kanna district over the last two decades, officials aware of the matter said on Sunday. The government, in an order dated July 19, said it was forming the SIT following a recommendation from the Karnataka state commission for women. The panel's appeal was based on a media report, dated July 12, which detailed a family's complaint about their missing daughter and the court testimony of a sanitation worker who claimed to have buried multiple bodies in the temple town. According to the Commission, the report and sworn statement "indicate that for over 20 years, serious acts of assault, murder, rape, unnatural deaths, and disappearances have occurred involving many women and female students". The commission's chairperson Nagalakshmi Chowdhury wrote to CM Siddaramaiah asking for an SIT, stating, "There are reports about serious crimes of sexual harassment, murders, rapes, unnatural deaths and missing persons complaints for the last two decades, which needs detailed probe." The SIT, now notified, will be led by Pranav Mohanty, DGP, internal security division, Bengaluru. Other members of the team included MN Anucheth, DIG of police, recruitment; Soumyalatha, DCP, CAR headquarters, Bengaluru City; and Jitendra Kumar Dayama, SP, internal security division, Bengaluru. According to the government's order, the SIT will investigate crime No. 39/2025 registered under section 211(A) of BNS at Dharmasthala police station. The SIT will function out of the Dakshina Kannada district police office. It has been directed to provide regular updates to the DGP and IGP. The origins of the case traced back to a sanitation worker in Dharmasthala who filed a police complaint on July 3, claiming to have buried bodies of multiple women who were allegedly raped and murdered. His statement was recently recorded before a magistrate, and an FIR was filed. As per government's order, the SIT will investigate crime No. 39/2025 registered under section 211(A) of BNS at Dharmasthala police station. The SIT will function out of the Dakshina Kannada district police office. It has been directed to provide regular updates to the DGP and IGP....