Koppa, July 26: The body of Hariharpur high school student A L Preetham (15) of Bhandigadi Arekal who was missing while going to school on Monday, found in Ambalike stream near here on Thursday. But Kiran Kumar who was missing after leaving his scooter near Nagalarapura Tunga River bridge was not yet found.

At 8.30 am, a local person found the body of Preetham under a tree in the stream and suddenly, he informed the Hariharpur police station. Police team led by PSI Somashekar and family members identified the body based on the cloths.

As school bag and slippers were found near the stream, his family members and others searched for him on Monday evening, Tuesday and Wednesday in Ambalike stream and Tunga river. Balehole diver Bhaskar, NR Pura diver Ramesh and teams have used two coracles to search the body. Hariharapura police, home guards and Koppa fire brigade and locals cooperated in the searching operation.

The cremation of the body was done at Arekal Hindu graveyard on Thursday afternoon. To respect his demise, Sachidananda Saraswati English Medium School declared a holiday on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Kiran Kumar (22), son of Narayana Poojary of Koppa Kachagal was missing from Monday. In a note left at home, he mentioned that “I would take his scooter and park it near Nagalarapura Tunga river bridge. Bring it back. Don’t try to search me. I will not come back”. After noticing the note, the family members rushed to the Tunga river bridge and found the scooter. He was suffering from a nerve problem and he might have jumped into the river depressed over his health problem, it is said.

Though they have searched for almost five-six kilometers in the river, they found nothing. As they did not get any clue on Thursday, they postponed the searching operation to Friday.

 

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Mumbai, Nov 25: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Monday demanded a re-election in Maharashtra using ballot papers, claiming there were irregularities with the electronic voting machines (EVMs).

Talking to reporters, Raut alleged several complaints about EVMs malfunctioning and questioned the integrity of the recently held elections.

The BJP-led Mahayuti won 230 out of 288 seats in the assembly elections, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi managed 46 seats, with Shiv Sena (UBT) winning just 20 out of 95 seats it contested.

"We have received nearly 450 complaints regarding EVMs. Despite raising objections repeatedly, no action has been taken on these issues. How can we say these elections were conducted fairly? Hence, I demand that the results be set aside and elections be held again using ballot papers," Raut said.

Citing some instances, he said a candidate in Nashik reportedly received only four votes despite having 65 votes from his family, while in Dombivli, discrepancies were found in EVM tallies, and election officials refused to acknowledge the objections.

The Sena (UBT) leader also questioned the credibility of the landslide victories of some candidates, saying, "What revolutionary work have they done to receive more than 1.5 lakh votes? Even leaders who recently switched parties have become MLAs. This raises suspicions. For the first time, a senior leader like Sharad Pawar has expressed doubts about EVMs, which cannot be ignored."

Asked about the MVA's poor performance in the elections, Raut rejected the idea of blaming a single individual.

"We fought as a united MVA. Even a leader like Sharad Pawar, who commands immense respect in Maharashtra, faced defeat. This shows that we need to analyse the reasons behind the failure. One of the reasons is EVM irregularities and the misuse of the system, unconstitutional practices, and even judicial decisions left unresolved by Justice Chandrachud," he said.

Raut stressed that though internal differences might have existed within the MVA, the failure was collective.

He also accused the Mahayuti of conducting the elections in an unfair manner.

"I cannot call the elections fair given the numerous reports of discrepancies in EVMs, mismatched numbers, and vote irregularities across the state," Raut said.