Gadag, Nov 26: A woman has been arrested for allegedly strangling her grandson to death in a village in Gajendragad Taluk, police said on Sunday.

According to police, the incident occurred on November 22 but came to light only recently when the investigating police charged Saroja Gooli with strangulating her nine-month-old grandson Advik as she disliked her daughter-in-law Nagarathna.

Police said Nagarathna gave birth to Advik in February this year at her parents' house and was there for about six months and returned to her home only three months ago.

Nagarathna told the police that on November 22 she was away to do domestic work and returned to find that the child was missing.

When she enquired with Saroja, she did not give any satisfactory answer.

Growing suspicious, she reported the matter to the police.

A Gajendragad police officer said that during interrogation, Saroja confessed to her crime and said after strangulating the infant, she buried it in a nearby mangrove.

Police have exhumed the body and sent it for autopsy.

Nagarathna told the police that Saroja used to give inedible stuff to the child to consume. Yet, she did not suspect that her mother-in-law could go to such an extent.

"We have taken up a case and are waiting for the postmortem report to arrive at a definite conclusion," an officer at Gajendragad told PTI.

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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.