A Dalit sanitation worker worked for the Dharmasthala temple administration from 1995 to 2014. On July 3, he filed a complaint with the Dharmasthala police. He stated that his superiors regularly ordered him to bury or burn the remains of several individuals. He identified many of them as women and children and described their condition as a result of long-term mistreatment spanning nearly two decades.

He said his superiors often threatened him when he hesitated to follow instructions. They warned him with statements like, “We will cut you into pieces; your body will be buried like the rest.” He described how he buried some remains along the Netravathi River. He believed the perpetrators chose the riverbanks because the soft, damp soil helped hide the remains by speeding up decomposition. The worker recalled an incident from 2010 involving the burial of a schoolgirl between the ages of 12 and 15. He said he buried her body near a petrol station in Kalleri. Media reports later noted that she wore a school uniform, though parts of it were missing. The reports also described physical injuries on the body.