Mass burials in Dharmasthala: Wtf is going on?

Written by: Aarthi Ramnath, Raghav Bikhchandani & Yash Budhwar

Wanted: A fabulous Assistant Editor for Advisory

Our weekend zine—the Advisory—will soon get an upgrade as an extension of our new vertical Souk. It is all about helping our community get the best advice on what to watch, where to travel, what to buy etc. All of it served with wonderful essays on art, music, food, history and more.

We are looking for someone who really gets what makes the Advisory special—and can take it to the next level. Requirements of the job include:

Impeccable writing, editing and researching skills.
Absolutely key: A well-informed taste in books, travel, movies, art and more.
0-2 years of experience.
Quick learner of backend CMS.
Familiarity with Canva.

Please note this isn’t a job for someone who is looking to work at a standard lifestyle section of a newspaper or site. Our aim is to break new ground—and build something truly valuable for our audience.

PS: Knowledge of splainer and the Advisory is a bonus. If you are not a subscriber but are interested in checking out an edition—email us and we will give you access. We prefer that you know what you’re applying for.

As for the rest: There is a six-month probation period and the pay will be industry standard. We are an equal opportunity employer and work remotely. Please send your resumes and cover letter—telling us why you want this job—to talktous@splainer.in. We will reach out to you if you’re shortlisted.

Content warning: The following item contains highly explicit references to sexual assault and rape.

Mass burials in Dharmasthala: Wtf is going on?

Tell me about this temple: The 800-year-old Dharmasthala temple is located on the banks of the Netravathi river in southern Karnataka. It receives around 2,000 devotees a day—who worship the deity Manjunatha (Lord Shiva).

The temple is controlled by the Heggade family. The current chief or ‘Dharmadhikari’ is Veerendra Heggade—serving since 1968... Point to note: Heggade is also a BJP Rajya Sabha member. Heggade and his family are also referred to as ‘Doddavaru’ (big people) and ‘Dhanigalu’ (landlords)—”terms that are used as much with adulation as with fear and discretion.”

A bleak backstory: Over the past 40 years, there have been a number of rape and murder allegations—and protests—against the temple. These include the murder of government schoolteacher Vedavalli in 1979, the rape and murder of 17-year-old Padmalata in 1987, the disappearance of medical student Ananya Bhat in 2003 and the rape and murder of 17-year-old Soujanya in 2012. But most campaigns for accountability have sputtered out or been quickly silenced.

Now, a whistleblower: On July 3, a 48-year-old Dalit man filed a police complaint claiming that he personally buried ‘hundreds’ of bodies of victims in Dharmasthala between 1995 and 2014. Employed by the temple as a sanitation worker, he was forced to do so under duress:

At the beginning of his employment, he noticed dead bodies appearing near the river. “Many female corpses were found without clothes or undergarments. Some corpses showed clear signs of sexual assault and violence; injuries or strangulation marks indicating violence were visible on those bodies,” he noted. However, instead of reporting this to authorities at the time, the man said he was forced to “dispose of these bodies” after his supervisors beat him up and threatened him, saying, “We will cut you into pieces; we will sacrifice all your family members.”

He has also offered very specific details of some cases:

He recalled that in 2010 he was sent to a location about 500 metres (1,640ft) from a petrol pump in Kalleri, nearly 30 kilometres (19 miles) from Dharmasthala. There, he found the body of a teenage girl. “Her age could be estimated between 12 to 15 years. She was wearing a school uniform shirt. However, her skirt and undergarments were missing. Her body showed clear signs of sexual assault. There were strangulation marks on her neck,” he noted in his statement. “They instructed me to dig a pit and bury her along with her school bag. That scene remains disturbing to this day.”

Why now? The man fled Dharmasthala in 2014 and went into hiding—but has now stepped forward with “an extremely heavy heart and to recover from an insurmountable sense of guilt.” He even exhumed and brought a skeleton to the police as ‘proof’.

A case no one wants: The Heggade family may be connected to the BJP, but it is the ruling Congress government that has dragged its feet for weeks. According to The Print, the skeleton has not yet been sent to a forensics lab—and the police failed to show up when the whistleblower offered to show them the burial sites. Officers have also tried to discredit him as “mentally unstable” and untrustworthy. There still have been no exhumations—with the police waiting on court orders.

Why is Congress so afraid? Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah has directed an SIT probe—but is worried about blowback:

The fear is that if no human remains are found at the sites pointed out by the complainant, the narrative would shift to suggest that the entire exercise was a politically motivated attempt to target a Hindu temple, and that the Congress government had enabled it. This concern continues to weigh on the minds of many within the administration, which explains the cautious approach.

The big picture: The delays in the ongoing investigation are part of a pattern. An 11-year probe into the killing of 17-year-old Soujanya was botched by the CBI—with the primary suspect acquitted in 2023 due to a lack of evidence. Her family alleges the real killers were protected by the Heggade family.

The bottomline: Here’s a bit of detail that tells all. After the story broke, Veerendra Heggade’s brother—Harshendra Kumar—filed a petition asking for a gag order against 338 media outlets and individuals. The Bangalore court promptly complied—banning media outlets and YouTube channels from carrying any “defamatory content” against him—and said any such content already published should be taken down.

Reading list: Al Jazeera has the best overview of the case, while The Print offers more insights from the ground. The Hindu (paywall) is best on the Soujanya case—while The News Minute (paywall) has the best political analysis.

First domino falls: Columbia surrenders to Trump

The context: Ever since the summer of 2024, there has been increasing pressure on universities to crack down on on-campus Palestine protests. A number of them—including Columbia—called in the cops, expelled students, etc. But none of this satisfied the incoming Trump White House—which has a much bigger plan to remake US liberal arts education entirely—and bring universities under direct government control.

The weapon of choice: Federal funding. The administration has yanked millions of dollars in research grants to the most prestigious universities—which most rely on them. Well, that brahmastra seems to have worked.

What happened now: Columbia University—which was ground zero for Palestine protests—has come to a $220 million settlement with the US government. The administration has agreed to a long list of rightwing demands. It will ban any consideration of diversity in hiring or admissions. The university will also squash any student or faculty criticism or protest around the Middle East:

Those commitments include the appointment of a senior vice provost to oversee the Middle Eastern studies department and other departments; the maintenance of restrictions on protests; and the appointment of three dozen public safety officers with arrest powers.

Btw, Columbia had already caved on this point back in March—but it didn’t satisfy the ‘antisemitism’ brigade.

Most importantly: The university has agreed to be overseen by an “independent monitor”—paid for by Columbia lol—who will make sure it fulfills the deal. This includes turning over admissions and faculty hiring data.

Yeh kaise hua? The government had publicly yanked $400 million in funding in March—but the actual damage was far greater:

As weeks passed, it became evident that the damage to Columbia’s research enterprise went further than the original $400 million cut. The National Institutes of Health, the government’s key medical research funder, froze nearly all research funding flowing to Columbia, including reimbursement of research grants that were still active. Grant Watch, a project run by research scientists who compiled information on the grants pulled by the Trump administration, estimated that about $1.2 billion in unspent funding from the N.I.H. to Columbia had been terminated or frozen.

That’s a lot of money—which the science faculty was not willing to sacrifice on the pedestal of free speech or even academic independence.

The big picture: President Claire Shipman claims to have saved the university—which was in “danger of reaching a tipping point in terms of preserving our research excellence and the work we do for humanity.” Enuf said. The Guardian and New York Times (login required) report on the settlement.

Excellent news on a male birth control pill

Scientists have been trying to develop a birth control pill for men for decades—with not much success (this Big Story explains why). The trial results of an experimental, hormone-free male birth control pill offer hope of an overdue breakthrough. The experimental pill is called YCT-529—which stops sperm production by blocking specific biological signals:

Specifically, the drug works by blocking a protein called "retinoic acid receptor alpha," which is known to play a key role in the formation and maturation of sperm. In the testes, the receptor would usually be activated by the insertion of a "key" — a vitamin A metabolite — but the drug stops this key from clicking into place. That, in turn, prevents the chain reaction that ends with sperm being made.

Where we are now: The trial was small—and limited to men who had already undergone a vasectomy—to avoid the risk of unintended infertility. Also, this was a safety test. So far, efficacy has only been proven in mice—where it resulted in a 99% success rate in preventing pregnancy. Now that the pill has proven to be safe for humans, the next step will be large trials to test whether it works. (Scientific American, paywalled, Live Science)

what caught our eye

business & tech

Apple notified several Iranians of government spyware attacks targeting their iPhones ahead of the country’s war with Israel.
Tesla’s latest quarterly earnings show profits shrinking as car sales dip, prices fall, and costs rise—thanks in part to Elon Musk’s growing distractions and focus on AI and robotaxis.
Quartz has a good read on how AI is powering a new wave of ultra-lean startups—some with barely any staff at all—raising the real possibility of the world’s first one-person unicorn.

sports & entertainment

Jannik Sinner has reappointed Umberto Ferrara as his fitness coach—they had parted ways last year amid the investigation into Sinner testing positive for the banned substance clostebol.
The Print traces the meteoric rise of Rajeev Shukla—a former journalist based in Kanpur and ‘everyone’s best friend’, as he makes a play for becoming the next BCCI chief.
Shia LaBeouf has settled a lawsuit filed by his former partner FKA Twigs, who had accused him of sexual battery and knowingly giving her a sexually transmitted disease.
‘South Park’ creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker have agreed a $1.5 billion global streaming rights deal with Paramount+.

health & environment

Tehran has declared a public holiday in order to tackle water shortage—urging residents to reduce their water usage by at least 20%.
In a major climate ruling, the UN’s top court said countries that don’t act to stop climate change could be violating international law—and might even have to pay damages to nations hit hardest.
Four Asian elephants from Bengaluru’s Bannerughatta Biological Park are heading to Japan this week—its first-ever animal export—as part of a big exchange deal that will bring back cheetahs, jaguars, pumas, chimpanzees and capuchins in return.
Calcutta High Court is set to hear a plea today from a local NGO that’s raising alarm over the sudden disappearance of more than 300 animals—some endangered—from Alipore Zoo, after official records showed a massive overnight drop in numbers.
US-funded contraceptive supplies intended for poorer nations are being sent to France from a warehouse in Belgium in order to be incinerated—after Trump froze foreign aid and rejected offers from the UN to buy or ship the supplies.
The WHO has warned that a chikungunya epidemic risks spreading worldwide—after outbreaks were detected in Reunion, Mayotte and Mauritius.
A new study estimates that the North Atlantic Ocean contains 27 million tons of floating plastic particles.
Want a quick health boost? Try your hand at ‘Japanese walking’—which alternates between fast and slow paced walking.

meanwhile, in the world

Over 100 NGOs have urged governments to take action as Israel’s forced ‘mass starvation’ of Palestinians takes hold across Gaza. Al Jazeera has also called on press freedom groups and legal bodies to step in, saying its journalists are now fighting to survive amid airstrikes and collapsing conditions on the ground.
Wall Street Journal (splainer gift link) in an exclusive reports that Justice Department officials told Donald Trump earlier this year that his name appeared among many in the Jeffrey Epstein case files.
A 23-year-old Indian student was assaulted in a hate crime in Adelaide, suffering brain trauma and a facial fracture.
Amid a rise in lion attacks, the Pakistani government is imposing fines and jail time on pet lion owners—a recent status symbol for wealthy Pakistanis.
Astoundingly, several British families who lost loved ones in the Air India crash were told the wrong remains had been sent home—with one coffin holding a stranger’s body and another containing parts of multiple victims.
The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives has called an early summer recess in an attempt to block a vote on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein investigation files.
The Donald has announced a new trade deal with Japan—which includes a 15% tax on imports from Japan.
The EU is planning to hit the US with a retaliatory 30% tariff on $117 billion worth of goods—if a deal is not struck by August 1.
Canada’s boycott of US liquor has hit the latter’s alcohol sales, shrinking the overall market in the country.
A new survey suggests that the trend of airlines showing playful pre-flight safety videos could be making passengers less safe.

meanwhile, in India

Indian Express has a bizarre story on a Ghaziabad-based man named Harsh Vardhan Jain, who fabricated diplomatic identity, claiming to run the ‘Embassy of Westarctica’.
The Hindu reports that Jagdeep Dhankhar only made four bilateral trips abroad during his 35 months as Vice-President—and often clashed with the Foreign Ministry over protocol, feeling sidelined on foreign policy compared to his predecessors.
ED has filed a complaint against Myntra and its directors for allegedly violating forex rules—amounting to over Rs 1,600 crore.
The Asian Development Bank has cut India’s growth forecast for FY26 to 6.5% from 6.7%—citing concerns over US tariffs and policy uncertainty.
New Delhi has resumed issuing tourist visas for Chinese nationals, after a five-year gap.
India’s passport has climbed eight spots to rank #77 on the Henley Passport Index, giving holders access to 59 countries without a prior visa.

Three things to see

One: Venus Williams just became the oldest WTA match winner since 2004—after beating Peyton Stearns in Washington on Tuesday. After the match, she revealed that she returned to competitive tennis after a gap of 16 months because of… health insurance! She may have been joking—OTOH, Venus has been very public about her 30-year battle with fibroids that cause severe distress. See the on-court moment below. (Newsweek)

Two: ICYMI, Germany beat France 6-5 on penalties in the women’s Euro 2025 quarterfinals on Saturday. It was a big night for the German goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger—the 34-year-old double cancer survivor who was largely written off by the media. She has now become an icon for her penalty shootout heroics—and this cinematic save that prevented an own goal. Sadly, Germany went on to lose to Spain in the semis. (The Guardian)

Three: On day one of the Test match at Old Trafford, Rishabh Pant suffered a nasty injury when he attempted an audacious reverse sweep to a very full delivery from Chris Woakes—only to inside-edge the ball onto his right foot. The pain was so unbearable that he had to be driven off the field in a golf cart. You can see how he sustained the injury below.

Below is the clip of him being taken off the field. It’s unclear if he will play in this match—the seriousness of the injury has not been shared yet. (ESPNCricinfo)