Karwar, Aug 14: After more than two weeks, full-fledged search operations were resumed on Wednesday by the Navy, National Disaster Response Force along with other agencies to trace Kerala lorry driver Arjun and two others who were missing following a landslide at Shirur village in Uttara Kannada district, police said.
The incident which occurred on National Highway 66 on July 16 claimed the lives of eight people.
The search operations were halted on July 28 due to adverse weather conditions, high river current and other factors, they said.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had recently written to his Karnataka counterpart Siddaramaiah requesting him to resume operations to trace the lorry driver from Kozhikode.
Superintendent of Police (Karwar), Narayana M, said a full-fledged search operation resumed on Wednesday by the coordinated efforts of the Navy, NDRF, State Disaster Response Force, and the department of fisheries and port.
"Our police team is also part of the operation. We recovered eight bodies during the extensive rescue operation that we carried out last month in the landslide-affected area on the National Highway," he told PTI.
"Now, search operation is focused on tracing three people -- Kerala lorry driver Arjun and two other natives of Karnataka -- on four places identified within the landslide-affected areas, and divers will also be part of the rescue operation," he added.
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Ghaziabad (UP) (PTI): A 55-year-old criminal wanted in the case of rape and murder of his four-year-old niece was killed in a police encounter late on Sunday night in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad district, a police official said on Monday.
In the joint operation carried out by the police and Crime Branch, the accused Jeeshan, carrying a cash reward of Rs 50,000, allegedly opened fire to evade arrest, resulting in injuries to two personnel, the police said.
According to the police, at around 12 noon on April 11, Jeeshan allegedly lured the child from outside her home on the pretext of buying her toffees. He took her to his room, where he allegedly raped her and subsequently strangled her to death. Following the crime, the accused carried the body on his shoulders and dumped it under a car on an 80-foot road in the Shalimar Garden police station area before fleeing.
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Two days ago, his presence was captured on CCTV footage at Delhi railway station when he was trying to flee out of Delhi. The police received a tip-off that the accused was scheduled to meet someone near the Banthla canal in Loni, the police said.
Following this, a team of the Teela Morh police station barricaded the area, and began checking. They spotted the suspect and signalled him to stop. Upon seeing the police, Jeeshan attempted to flee. Finding himself encircled by the police, he allegedly opened fire on the police team. The police fired in self-defence, in which the accused sustained gunshot wounds. He was rushed to a hospital, where doctors declared him dead, the police said.
ACP Shalimar Garden Atul Kumar Singh said that the accused was killed in retaliatory firing and the injured policemen -- head constables Amit and Iqbal -- are out of danger.
The body of the deceased has been sent for a post-mortem examination, Singh said, and added that the police have recovered weapons and cartridges from his possession.
