Grave mystery: Is this where Lindt Cafe gunman Man Haron Monis is buried?

IT’S an unmarked grave in southwest Sydney that has locals nervously asking whether it holds the body of Lindt cafe terrorist Man Haron Monis.

IT’S an unmarked grave in southwest Sydney that has locals nervously asking whether it holds the body of Lindt cafe terrorist Man Haron Monis.

The grave, a bare patch of brown rocky ground spotted with tufts of dying grass, lies next to several others bearing crude identification plates rather than headstones.

The owners of the cemetery insist the gunman is not buried there but won’t say who is.

But the locals may need more convincing.

They say the body in question was buried under the cover of darkness in a process that lasted “no longer than 35 minutes” and want answers about who lies beneath.

One community member, who did not want to be named, said the mysterious circumstances of the burial on a Thursday night last month was witnessed by a person who lived close to the gravesite.

“A white van pulls up half an hour past midnight,” he said.

Man Haron Monis was buried in an undisclosed location. Picture: AAP Image/Dean Lewins

“The hole had already been dug. They took the body out of the back of the van, covered it and drove off. It lasted no longer than about 35 minutes and it was two people.

“Who drops a body into a grave at 12.30am in the dark at a cemetery?”

A Facebook group about the gravesite was launched as rumours swirled that Monis had been buried there, but it has since been shut down.

A planned community meeting about the situation has also been cancelled.

“He (Monis) has to be buried somewhere,” the local said. “They should reveal that he is buried there or at least let the community know that that is where he is.”

As the community intrigue grows the cemetery owners insist the mystery body buried in an unmarked grave is not Monis.

“He (Monis) is not at that gravesite or any gravesite run by our organisation,” one of the owners said.

He said the organisation knew the identity of all burials in its graves and denied it had been contacted by the coroner or anyone else about Monis’ burial.

“I have tried to find out where he was buried and we don’t know,” the owner said.

Monis, who died along with two of the hostages in a shootout at the Lindt cafe in Sydney’s Martin Place in December, was buried by grave diggers in an undisclosed location in NSW in January.

Those involved in the burial were required to sign a confidentiality agreement.