Indian police exhume human remains in mass-burial probe

Alleged secret burials of murder and rape victims since the mid-1990s; a former temple cleaner claims he was forced to bury hundreds, many showing signs of sexual assault; special investigation team finds remains at two of 16 suspected burial sites

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Indian police have exhumed human remains in a temple town in the country's south, officials said, as part of an investigation into allegations that hundreds of murder and rape victims were secretly buried there from around the mid-1990s.

The probe centres on Dharmasthala, home to an 800-year-old temple dedicated to the Hindu deity Shiva in the state of Karnataka and is drawing headlines in media nationwide.

A former cleaner at the temple told police last month that he had been forced by superiors to dispose of hundreds of bodies over two decades, many of them women and girls showing signs of sexual assault. His allegations were made in a police complaint dated July 4 and seen by Reuters.