India, Aug. 26 -- Karnataka's home minister G Parameshwara on Monday dismissed demands from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party that the Dharmasthala case be handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), saying the state police were conducting a proper investigation and that there was "no need" for central involvement.

With a whistleblower's gristly confession of hundreds of buried bodies unraveling, and forensic analysis showing that the skull he dramatically produced was likely a 40-year-old lab specimen, the state has been under pressure to unearth what BJP leaders and many others see as a conspiracy against the powerful Dharmasthala Manjunatha temple and the Heggade family that controls it.

The SIT's investigation too se...