Udupi, Apr 13: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai was on a temple visiting spree to atone for his sins during his rule, senior Congress leader and opposition leader in the legislative council B K Hariprasad said on Thursday.

Addressing a press meet in Udupi, Hariprasad alleged that the BJP government was steeped in corruption and malpractices during the last four years. "The Chief Minister is now doing penance for all the sins," he said.

The Congress leader charged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who "did not care" to visit Chamarajanagar when 34 people died of for want of oxygen during the Covid pandemic, could find time for a wildlife safari in Bandipur recently in view of the elections.

He said a meeting of Congress ticket aspirants for Udupi seat was held and a request was made to all of them to support the official candidate. Prasad Raj Kanchan is the official nominee of the Congress in Udupi.

Hariprasad said many leaders in the BJP were now leaving the party. "The BJP does not have an agenda for the poor people and is only interested in promoting Hindutva; they want to create division among the people with their communal agenda," he charged.

Hariprasad said the third list of Congress candidates would be released within two days. Udupi candidate Kanchan and district Congress president Ashok Kumar Kodavoor were present at the press meet.

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Ranchi (PTI): A 25-year-old man, who works as a butcher, allegedly strangled to death his live-in partner and chopped her body into 40 to 50 pieces in a forested area in Jharkhand’s Khunti district, police said on Wednesday.

The accused, identified as Naresh Bhengra, was arrested.

The matter came to light after around a fortnight after the killing when a stray dog was found with human body parts near Jordag village in Jariagarh police station on November 24.

Bhengra was in a live-in relationship with the deceased, a 24-year-old woman also from Khunti district, in Tamil Nadu for the past couple of years. Sometime back, he returned to Jharkhand, got married to another woman without telling his partner anything and went back to the southern state without his wife to join her.

"The brutal incident occurred on November 8 when they reached Khunti as the accused who had married another woman did not wish to take her home. Instead, he took her to a forest near his house at Jordag village in Jariagarh police station and chopped the body into pieces. The man has been arrested," Khunti Superintendent of Police Aman Kumar told PTI.

Inspector Ashok Singh who investigated the case said the man worked in a butcher shop in Tamil Nadu and was expert in slicing chicken.

“He admitted chopping the body parts of the woman into 40 to 50 pieces before leaving those in the forest for wild animals to feast on. The police recovered several parts on November 24 after a dog in the area was seen with a hand," Singh told PTI.

Singh said that the woman, who was unaware of his marriage, pressured him to return to Khunti. After reaching Ranchi, they boarded a train on November 24 and headed to the man's village.

"Under a plan, the man took her to Khunti in an autorickshaw near his home and asked her to wait. He returned with sharp weapons and strangulated her with her dupatta after raping her. He then cut the body into 40 to 50 pieces and left for his home to live with his wife," Singh said.

The woman, however, had informed her mother that she had boarded a train and would be living with her partner, the police officer said.

Following the recovery of body parts, a bag was also found in the forest with the murdered woman's belongings including her Aadhaar card. The mother of the woman was called at the spot and she identified her daughter's belongings.

"The mother suspected the man behind the crime who after being nabbed by the police admitted to chopping the woman into pieces," the official added.

The incident has sent shockwaves among people in the region, with the Shraddha Walker murder case of 2022 still fresh in their memory.

Walker was killed by her live-in partner who chopped her body into pieces before dumping them in the jungle in South Delhi’s Mehrauli.