Man who alleged rapes and secret burials in Dharmasthala temple town arrested

The former temple cleaner's startling claims threw the town of Dharmasthala in Karnataka into turmoil.

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His startling claims had thrown the tiny religious town of Dharmasthala in the southern state of Karnataka into turmoil.

Home to the centuries-old temple to Manjunatha Swamy - an incarnation of Shiva from the Hindu holy trinity - the town attracts thousands of pilgrims daily and is central to the fabric of local people's lives.

A political row in the state resulted in the government setting up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to verify the man's allegations.

A SIT official who did not want to be named told the BBC on Saturday morning that the man "has been arrested for perjury".