Tumakuru, Aug. 25 -- Former Congress Minister K.N. Rajanna has come down heavily on his own party for the initial handling of the Dharmasthala case, alleging that using an unrelated skull to defame the revered shrine of Hindus was a deliberate attempt to tarnish the sacred site's reputation at the national level.

Addressing reporters in city yesterday, Rajanna said, "Once a body is buried, no one has the authority to exhume it without due legal process. If exhumation is required, it must be done in the presence of the jurisdictional Magistrate. The law is clear on who has authority over a buried body and under what conditions."

He questioned why no inquiry was conducted into the skull's origin before the probe began. "Launching an inves...