Karkala MLA and former Minister V. Sunil Kumar on Friday asked Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar whether he will order for a CBI probe to unravel the alleged inter-State conspiracy and reports about pumping in ₹200 crore from Kerala to tarnish the image of Dharmasthala by filing a complaint on alleged mass burial of bodies in Dharmasthala village by a former sanitation worker.

In his post on X, the MLA said in the writ petition filed before the Karnataka High Court, the petitioner C.N. Chinna (popularly called Chinnaiah), who is accused of filing a false complaint of mass burial of bodies, has mentioned about ₹200 crore being used for the plot to tarnish the sanctity of Dharmasthala Manjunatha Temple and those who managed it. He has also stated that this money came from Kerala.

“If a conspiracy has been hatched in another State against a religious centre in our State (Karnataka), it means that the reach of the group behind this conspiracy is not superficial, but is deep and wide,” the MLA said.

The government should bring to light the individuals behind this group, their faith, their objective and from whom they collected the money and to whom the money went, the former Minister said.

During a discussion on the matter in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly held earlier, Mr. Shivakumar had said he was devotee of Dharmasthala temple and there was no question of saving anybody in the case. “So, how will you now unravel this Kerala link? Since this is an inter-State conspiracy, will you hand over the case to the CBI for investigation? Or will you bow to the pressure from anti-Hindu forces and resort to calculated silence?” Mr. Kumar questioned.

Turning to Home Minister Priyank Kharge, Mr. Kumar recalled Mr. Kharge’s earlier statement that there was no conspiracy hatched against Dharmasthala. “The interest he shows in digging into the roots of various organisations could also be directed towards uncovering the centre of this gang’s financial conspiracy,” Mr. Kumar said in his post.

Chinna, who is among five persons accused by Special Investigation Team of filing a false complaint, filed the writ petition on June 11 seeking directions from SIT to file before jurisdictional court in Belthangady the final report on the complaint.