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Daily Mail
31-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Remains are found at 'mass burial site' amid fears hundreds of girls and women were raped and murdered at Indian holy site
The first human remains have been found in an investigation into the alleged secret burial of hundreds of women and girls, many showing signs of sexual assault, over two decades in the holy Indian town of Dharmasthala. In July, a former sanitation worker at the 800-year-old Dharmasthala Temple returned to the quiet town in southern India to make a startling confession to the police. He claimed that between 1998 and 2014, he was forced to secretly dispose of hundreds of bodies of women and minors, many of which showed signs of brutal violence and sexual assault, in unmarked and random sites around the sacred town in the Karnataka state. According to the whistleblower's complaint, he worked for the revered temple under duress for nearly 20 years before fleeing into hiding with his family in 2014. Provoked by guilt and shame, he re-surfaced over a decade later to demand the exhumation of the hundreds of corpses who he alleged were systematically abused and murdered, and who he was told to secretly dispose of. On Thursday, a special investigation team uncovered the first skeletal remains in an exhumation of one of 15 suspected locations linked to mass burials identified by the former sanitation worker. The 'partial skeleton' was located at the one of the sites along the banks of the Netravati river - where seven other mass graves are said to be. Sources reported that the human remains were in a 'highly decayed state', according to India Today. The whistleblower's complaint has shone a light on hundreds of cases of women and girls who were reported missing or found dead around Dharmasthala over the years, but whose situations were not properly investigated by the police. 'Here is the individual who says that it is not the fear of law but the fear of conscience and fear for morality that has brought him back,' the sanitation worker's lawyer, KV Dhananjay, told the Independent. 'In the last 100 years of court judgments, you don't find a parallel.' Earlier in July, the former sanitation worker appeared before a Belthangady court, garbed in a black hood to withhold his identity, where he presented skeletal remains that he claimed were taken from one of the mass grave sites of sexual assault victims. The town of Dharmasthala in Dakshina Kannada is a major Hindu pilgrimage site, with the Dharmasthala Temple attracting around 2,000 visitors per day. The whistleblower, from the Dalit community, the lowest rung of the caste system, described in his police complaint how he would find corpses washed up on the riverbank. At first, he assumed the deaths were by suicide, but he soon noticed that most of the bodies were women, many were in states of undress and some showed signs of violence. It wasn't until 1998 that he was first asked to 'secretly dispose of the bodies', he claimed, adding that when he refused, he was physically attacked. Protesters demonstrate on July 21, demanding a reinvestigation into the rape and murder case of Sowjanya, a 17-year-old girl who died near Snanaghatta in Dharmastala in 2012 The first human remains have been found in an investigation into the alleged secret burial of hundreds of women and girls over two decades in the holy Indian town of Dharmasthala 'We will cut you into pieces. Your body will also be buried like the other corpses. We will sacrifice all your family members,' he alleged he was told. He escaped the town in 2014, after 'the mental torture I was experiencing became unbearable'. He and his family fled to a neighbouring state and went into hiding for fear of their safety. On July 15, a 60-year-old Bengaluru woman submitted a petition to the police, demanding officials find the 'skeletal remains' of her daughter who went missing in 2003 when she visited the temple town of Dharmasthala with her friends. A week later, a group of women marched towards the temple in protest, demanding justice for 17-year-old Sowjanya, a college student from Belthangady who was reportedly raped and murdered in Dharmasthala in 2012 but whose killer was never found. The investigation is expected to continue as more alleged mass grave sites throughout the holy town are exhumed in the coming weeks and days. Current reports suggest the remains discovered today are most likely of a male. According to the whistleblower, impoverished men were also murdered in the town and similarly buried. In a statement from on Sunday 20 July, the temple authorities said they endorse a 'fair and transparent' investigation. 'Truth and belief form the foundation of a society's ethics and values. We sincerely hope and strongly urge the Special Investigation Team to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation and bring the true facts to light,' said K Parshwanath Jain, the official spokesperson for Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala.
CBS News
28-07-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Baltimore leaders spar over health insurance for all DPW workers a year after an on-the-job death
The death of a Baltimore sanitation worker in the heat on the job one year ago this week exposed many alarming problems, including a lack of health insurance for more than 130 frontline solid waste workers. Baltimore City Comptroller Bill Henry proposed a simple fix: Enroll everyone. But the mayor's representatives voted it down, citing ongoing union contract negotiations. Ronald Silver II's family has been fighting to make things better for his colleagues since he collapsed and died after a day picking up trash in the sweltering heat in August 2024. His mother, Faith Johnson, told WJZ, "He was not replaceable." Baltimore City Inspector General Isabel Cumming had been looking into problems within the Department of Public Works since before Silver's death. One of her reports uncovered a lack of awareness among some workers about health insurance. "Ron Silver did not have health insurance," Cumming told WJZ Investigates. "He did not have health insurance, and 135 other guys were also in that same condition, not having health insurance." Cumming said one co-worker only discovered he was uninsured after he was hospitalized. "When we talked to them, so many thought they had health insurance because they thought it was automatic," Cumming said. "It's not." Cumming also found that some workers were not even receiving the $2,500 stipends they are entitled to for not taking the insurance. She noted that is a significant amount of money for employees, some of whom make less than $40,000 annually. "Picking up the trash in Baltimore City is absolutely an essential part of keeping the city running the way it does," Cumming said. Comptroller Bill Henry's solution was to sign up every city employee for the least expensive health insurance plan automatically. If they chose to opt out, they could, but at least they would be covered. "We took that report. We came up with a solution," Henry said. Henry said the city already budgets roughly $14,000 per employee for those benefits, so it would not cost anything. He even proposed giving a $5,000 credit for those who opt out of insurance. "That is the city making the point—the point in its own policy—that we, the city, want you to be covered by health insurance," Henry said. "Frankly, I thought this would be easier than it turned out to be." The three members of the city's spending board appointed by the mayor voted against Henry's proposal. Some believed it would interfere with ongoing union negotiations and that the spending board may not be the appropriate venue to create city policy. Mayor Brandon Scott's administration noted they were able to enroll all but five of those flagged in the inspector general's report through intensive outreach. "This notion that nothing changed, I want to address that. That is not true," said the city's chief administrative officer, Faith Leach, during a lengthy discussion at the Board of Estimates. But the comptroller pushed back. Henry fears that, with the large turnover in DPW, tragedy on the job could happen again. "There is no good reason for them to oppose this. The only reason we can come up with is it wasn't their idea," Henry said. Inspector General Cumming said she was "very disappointed." She noted, "The fact is that it was proven that we have a problem." WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren asked Mayor Brandon Scott why the city does not automatically enroll all employees into a health insurance plan. "We have negotiations with our labor unions, and they come to the table with things they want to negotiate," Mayor Scott said. "This is one of the things that is a negotiable thing for them. But also even beyond that, I want to be very clear that our employees, including ones in public works, they're smart, and they make the decisions on what they believe is best for them and their families, right? And when you look at—even after the things that happened last year—we went back and offered, some folks still decided not to." Ronald Silver's family reacted through their lawyer, Thiru Vignarajah. "It is baffling that the mayor and the city of Baltimore would not want every one of its employees, especially those who face such difficult work conditions, to have health insurance," Vignarajah said. "Here is just another example of them dropping the ball when they could have easily done the right thing." Vignarajah recently announced that the Silver family intends to sue the city over civil rights violations. The comptroller still believes signing everyone up is the easiest solution, but he said it is pointless to bring it to a vote again because he would lose. "The idea that we would let anybody go out there without health benefits that they've earned just because we didn't feel like changing the rules to make it easier for them to get those benefits—that to me is kind of disappointing," Henry said. Of the Scott administration, Henry said, "They've made their point that they don't want to do it this way." It could still be brought up through the city council. The administration promised to continue with outreach efforts to make sure every employee is aware of their benefits.
The Independent
26-07-2025
- The Independent
Rape, murder and secret burials: Temple worker's chilling confession shakes holy town
A temple town, a mystery whistleblower and a chilling confession: allegations of rape, murder and the secret burial of hundreds of women and girls over two decades have shocked the quiet holy town of Dharmasthala in southern India 's Karnataka. His face hidden behind a black hood, a whistleblower appeared before a local court earlier this month carrying skeletal remains that he claimed were taken from a mass burial site of sexual assault victims. The man claimed to be a former sanitation worker at the Dharmasthala temple and alleged he was forced into secretly disposing of hundreds of bodies, many of which showed signs of brutal violence and sexual assault. In a written complaint to the police chief of Dakshina Kannada district, the man, whose identity is being withheld for his safety, said he worked under duress for nearly 20 years before fleeing into hiding with his family in 2014. Driven by guilt, remorse and haunting nightmares, he had returned after more than a decade to expose the 'horrific crimes' he allegedly witnessed during his time working at the temple. According to his testimony and redacted complaint seen by The Independent, the alleged rape, torture and murder of girls and women and the disposal of their remains occurred between 1995 and 2014. The whistleblower demanded exhumation of the hundreds of corpses he claimed to have buried and an investigation so that justice could be ensured for the victims 'who were denied dignity even in death'. His lawyer, KV Dhananjay, told The Independent this was an 'unprecedented' case where the witness had come forward not only with his testimony but also evidence, demanding accountability. 'Here is the individual who says that it is not the fear of law but the fear of conscience and fear for morality that has brought him back,' Dhananjay said. 'In the last 100 years of court judgments, you don't find a parallel.' The emergence of a whistleblower has put the spotlight on hundreds of cases of women and girls who were found dead or reported missing in and around Dharmasthala over the years, many of which were ignored or not formally investigated by police. Nearly two weeks after the man filed his complaint, Karnataka's state government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into the allegations. Nestled in the lush Western Ghats on the banks of the Nethravathi river, Dharmasthala is a major Hindu pilgrimage site. The medieval Shri Manjunatha Temple, dedicated to the deity Shiva and managed by a family, attracts millions of devotees to the small town every year. The whistleblower said he was from the Dalit community, the lowest rung of the Hindu caste system, and worked at the Shri Manjunatha Temple from 1995 to 2014. 'What began as regular employment later turned into work of covering up evidence of extremely horrific crimes,' he alleged. He fled in 2014 when 'the mental torture I was experiencing became unbearable'. The tipping point came after a young girl was sexually harassed, he alleged, prompting him to run away. He and his family went into hiding in a neighbouring state, he claimed, constantly changing residences for fear of their lives. In a chilling first-person account, the man said he found corpses wash up on the riverbank and assumed they were suicides or accidental drownings. But he soon noticed that most of them were women, and many were naked or semi-naked and showed signs of violence. It was in 1998 when he was first asked to "secretly dispose of the bodies", he alleged. When he refused, he was allegedly beaten and threatened. 'We will cut you into pieces. Your body will also be buried like the other corpses. We will sacrifice all your family members,' he alleged he was told. He claimed that many of the victims he ended up burying in secret were minor girls and women subjected to brutal sexual violence. They bore torn clothes, acid burns, and other injuries. In a particularly distressing case in 2010, the man said he was ordered to bury a girl he estimated was 12 to 15 years old. 'She was still wearing her school uniform shirt but other garments were missing. She had a school bag. Her body showed clear signs of sexual assault. There were strangulation marks on her neck,' the whistleblower said in his testimony. 'They instructed me to dig a pit and bury her along with her school bag. That scene remains disturbing to this day.' He also claimed that destitute men were murdered at Dharmasthala and similarly buried. The man alleges that he was a witness to these murders. According to the lawyer, the corpses were not buried in designated cemeteries but on open lands. 'These were not organised interments sanctioned by any authority but random burials, hidden and illegal,' he said. The whistleblower said he kept silent for years out of fear but the 'insurmountable sense of guilt' and recurring nightmares became too much to bear. 'I can no longer bear the burden of memories of the murders I witnessed, the continuous death threats to bury the corpses that I received and the pain of beatings – that if I did not bury those corpses, I would be buried alongside them,' he said. Dhananjay said the whistleblower's claims described a place where 'ordinary laws just don't work at all'. 'Now if it is true, one must assume that if somebody goes missing in such a place, the police are simply not going to record it,' he said. 'But just because we are unable to explain the past, the rocks should not blind us to the present.' The lawyer said the whistleblower took matters into his own hands because he expected little from police. 'Before coming to us, he went to one such burial site, exhumed the remains, and handed them over to the court,' he said. 'So now, the court has half the picture. The other half is for police to take him to the site where the recovery was made. They have not done that either. This man was not wanted. There were no pending investigations against him. No one was even looking for these bodies. By not acting, police are sending a message to the world – that this man may be telling the truth.' In a statement issued on Sunday 20 July, the temple authorities said they support a 'fair and transparent' investigation. 'Truth and belief form the foundation of a society's ethics and values. We sincerely hope and strongly urge the SIT to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation and bring the true facts to light,' said K Parshwanath Jain, the official spokesperson for Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala. The whistleblower hasn't named any of the people he claims are responsible. He has sought protection from the court first, saying he will disclose more details once he and his family receive proper protection. Should anything happen to him before he is able to reveal the names, he has said, Dhananjay will open a sealed version of his full testimony. 'The truth about these tragedies must not die with me,' he said in his testimony. Karnataka State Commission for Women chairperson Nagalakshmi Chowdhary told The Independent that the appointment of a Special Investigation Team was a 'significant step'. She referenced the anguish of families still waiting for answers. 'An old woman is still hoping to recover the remains of her daughter just so she can perform her last rites,' she said. 'That's why I wrote to the Karnataka government, and within four or five days they constituted the SIT.' If you are a child and you need help because something has happened to you, you can call Childline free of charge on 0800 1111. You can also call the NSPCC if you are an adult and you are worried about a child, on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adults on 0808 801 0331.
Fox News
15-07-2025
- Fox News
Young worker killed after falling into meat grinder at factory of popular frozen burrito company
A workplace mishap over the weekend left a 19-year-old man dead after he fell into a meat grinder at a food processing facility in California. The Vernon Police Department told Fox News Digital that the young victim, whose identity has not been disclosed, was part of the sanitation team at Tina's Burritos, located in the 2600 block of Vernon Avenue. Officials said that the Los Angeles County Fire Department was dispatched to assist with what was described as a "fatal industrial accident" in regard to a male subject that was found in the meat grinder, which was called an industrial-grade kettle. Authorities said the fatal accident happened around 9:30 p.m. and is being treated as an "industrial mishap," as the victim was cleaning an industrial food processor when the machine unexpectedly activated. Other workers inside the factory told KABC they could hear his cries for help and attempted to shut down the machine, but were unsuccessful. By the time officers arrived at the factory, the man had already passed away. The company confirmed the tragic incident to Fox News Digital and called it a "devastating loss." "We are heartbroken to confirm that a Sanitation worker lost his life on Sunday night, July 13, 2025, while performing sanitation duties at our Vernon facility. He was cleaning an empty kettle that was being sanitized and prepped for the next day's production run," the company shared in a statement. "Despite the immediate response of coworkers and emergency personnel, he tragically passed away at the scene." The company added that their "hearts are with his family, friends, and all who knew and worked alongside him." "This is a devastating loss for everyone at Tina's. We are cooperating fully with local authorities and Cal/OSHA in the ongoing investigation, and our focus remains on honoring his life, supporting those who are grieving, and maintaining the highest safety standards in our facility," the statement concluded. Detectives with the bureau are also investigating the incident and said no foul play is suspected. Officials from the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration are also assisting in the investigation. Vernon is located approximately five miles south of downtown Los Angeles in Los Angeles County. Stepheny Price is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. She covers topics including missing persons, homicides, national crime cases, illegal immigration, and more. Story tips and ideas can be sent to
Daily Mail
15-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Teenager dies after being sucked into a meat grinder at a burritos factory
A 19-year-old sanitation worker was horrifically killed after being sucked into a meat grinder at a California food processing plant. The unnamed teenager was working at Tina's Burritos when the deadly accident unfolded just before 9.30pm on Sunday, according to the Vernon Police Department. He had been working an overnight shift and cleaning the industrial meat grinder when it suddenly switched on, pulling him into the machine in front of his shocked colleagues. The victim, a member of the after-hours sanitation team, is believed to have cried out for help. However, workers were unable to shut the equipment down in time to save his life. Police who rushed to the scene confirmed they found the young man's body inside the machine after being called to the scene. Sgt. Daniel Onopa told ABC 6 the incident occurred around 9.30pm and that investigations are underway to determine what triggered the machine to start operating. Officials have indicated that they do not suspect foul play. Sgt. Onopa said: 'Our thoughts are with the family, friends, and coworkers affected by this tragedy.' Tina's Burritos has not yet issued a statement on the fatal accident at its plant. The company is famous for its single-serve frozen burritos.
