Dharmasthala: SIT to probe Ananya Bhat missing case

Dharmasthala: SIT to probe Ananya Bhat missing case

Mangalore Today News Network

Belthangady, Aug 21, 2025: The mysterious case of Ananya Bhat, who allegedly went missing in 2003 during a trip to Dharmasthala, has now been handed over to the Special Investigation Team (SIT). This development comes close on the heels of media reports questioning whether Ananya was indeed the daughter of Sujatha Bhat.

Superintendent of Police, Dakshina Kannada, confirmed that the Dharmasthala police had earlier registered a complaint (No. 175/PTN/DPS/2025) on July 15, 2025, filed by Sujatha Bhat, who claimed her only daughter Ananya had gone missing. Following an order issued by the DGP and IGP on August 19, the case has been formally transferred to the SIT for further probe.

‘No Ananya did MBBS in KMC in 2003’

Meanwhile, amid the SIT investigation into the alleged Dharmasthala burials, sources from the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) have revealed that no student named Ananya Bhat had enrolled for the first-year MBBS course in Kasturba Medical College (KMC) in 2003. “After extensive scrutiny, we found no such record,” said sources, requesting anonymity.

In her complaint, Sujatha had maintained that Ananya was pursuing her first-year MBBS at KMC, a constituent college of MAHE, at the time of her disappearance.

Adding another layer of intrigue, sources from the Anti-Naxal Force (ANF) disclosed that Sujatha’s movements in Kalasa and Belthangady were closely monitored till 2013, as her name appeared on the list of ‘urban naxals.’ Activist Ramachandra Bhat of Kuthlur in Belthangady also claimed to have seen her in the company of groups sympathetic to Maoist ideology.

With contradictions surfacing between Sujatha’s claims and MAHE’s official records, the SIT is now expected to unravel the truth behind the missing Ananya Bhat case and its possible link to the alleged Dharmasthala burials.