Police in India have arrested a man who recently alleged that he had been coerced into burying hundred of bodies of women who were raped before being murdered.

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.

The allegations also resulted in a huge political row - the issue was discussed in the just-concluded session of the state assembly, with the opposition BJP members calling it a "smear campaign" against a Hindu religious site that has millions of devotees.