Mangaluru: Advocate Manjunath N., who represents Sujatha Bhat, the mother of missing MBBS student Ananya Bhat, has stated that three human remains were unearthed by the SIT on Monday from a forested hill near Site No 11. The discovery of human remains was reported by this newspaper on Tuesday.
The spot lies about 100 metres from Site 11. “The exhumation team trekked to the top of a hill about 100 feet high. There, at least three human remains were discovered after digging the sites shown by the complainant. One of them was of a woman, it is learnt. A woman’s sari was also found at the same location. It has been reported that some members of the team that went there were injured after slipping while climbing the hill,” Manjunath stated in a press statement.
“It is said that the exhumation was successful because the SIT allowed the complainant to take them to a location adjacent to Area 11, instead of asking him to limit himself only to area number 11 that he had initially measured,” he said. Manjunath identified the witness by a name but Deccan Chronicle is going with ‘V’ since he is in a police witness protection programme.
Manjunath added that insisting on the complainant to stick to his initial measurement made on the first day and extract the remains only from that location would be not only unscientific but also meaningless.
“A person who has the freedom to identify the locations also has the freedom to correct himself if what he initially identified appears to him later to be inaccurate,” he said.
Ananya Bhat went missing from Dharmasthala in 2003. Sujatha Bhat had recently sought a fresh investigation into the disappearance of her daughter.
Meanwhile no human remains were found during the seventh day of digging. The special investigation team (SIT) reached the site around 11 am and the work concluded at about 5 pm.
The team is likely to dig the 13th spot on Wednesday.
The whistleblower had identified 13 locations on July 28. With excavations nearing completion, all eyes are now on the SIT to see what course of action it will take once digging at all 13 spots concludes.