Santosh Trophy: Kerala emerges champion
Kolkata: Kerala beat Bengal via the tie-breaker to claim its sixth Santosh Trophy title at the Salt Lake Stadium here on Sunday. In a keenly-contested final, Kerala missed umpteen chances to let the match remain undecided at 2-2 after extra time.
However, the Satheevan Balan-coached side rode on two saves by keeper V. Midhun to win the penalty shoot-out 4-2 and emerge champion after 14 years.
Kerala banked on its robust gameplan to keep Bengal at bay in the first half.
The host showed aggression but Ankit Mukherjee and Jitin Murmu failing to capitalise on good chances.
While Kerala marked the Bengal players tightly, the home team valued ball possession.
Nevertheless, Kerala showed its perfected art of scoring off counter-attacks. S. Seesan precise long ball set up an unmarked M.S. Jithin, who ran unchallenged into the Bengal box before beating goalkeeper Ranajit Majumder in the 19th minute. Bengal's steady moves earned it a few opportunities but hit a compact wall built by Rahul V. Raj, Vibin Thomas and S. Lijo.
Dead-ball specialist Tirthankar Sarkar's aerial attempt was collected by Midhun and Bidyashagar Singh's effort from close was saved by an alert G. Sreerag.
Kerala found a few more chances, but Jithin Gopalan could not connect one from the edge of the box and V.K. Afdal shot over the bar to waste a superb move crafted by P.C. Anurag on the right and M.S. Jithin on the left.
A wasteful Kerala allowed Bengal to fight back in the second half as Anurag missed a sitter after receiving a fine pass from M.S. Jithin.
Bengal’s efforts bore fruit in the 68th minute. Substitute Rajon Barman worked his way up on the right, squared it up inside the area for Murmu to strike high into the net.
Even as Bengal maintained pressure, Kerala had its chances. However, Jithin Gopalan could not score off a rebound while Afdal hurried on a shot and the action stretched into extra time.
After Bengal lost Barman to a red card for crashing into the rival ’keeper while crafting a move, Kerala scored through Thomas. He rose high to head in a Jestin George cross from the left.
Tirthankar's low left-footer free-kick from just outside the box beat Midhun in the dying moments to take the match into the shoot-outs.
The result: Kerala 2 (M.S. Jithin 19, Vibin Thomas 116) bt Bengal 2 (Jiten Murmu 68, Tirthankar Sarkar 120); Shoot-out: [Kerala 4 (Rahul V. Raj, Jithin Gopalan, Jestin George, S. Seesan) bt Bengal 2 (Tirthankar, Sanchayan Samadder).
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Udupi: Woman, bank employee arrested in property tax fraud case
Udupi: Udupi City Police have arrested two persons, including a woman, in connection with the alleged misappropriation of property tax funds belonging to the Udupi Municipal Council.
The accused have been identified as Shalini, who was working as a tax consultant outside the municipal office, and Ganesh, a bank employee.
According to police, Anand Suvarna had paid Rs 34,730 towards 12 years of property tax for his building in Kalmadi to Shalini on October 16, 2025. She reportedly issued him a receipt acknowledging the payment.
However, when Suvarna recently checked the status of the payment on the property tax portal, he found that the amount had not been credited and was still shown as pending. He then brought the matter to the notice of the Municipal Commissioner, who verified that the payment had not been recorded.
During questioning, Shalini allegedly admitted to the lapse. On February 16, 2026, she generated a new challan in Suvarna’s name and paid Rs 35,213 towards the dues.
Police said a case has been registered at the Udupi City Police Station against the accused for allegedly misappropriating tax money and defrauding the government by affixing the seal of Union Bank on the challan without remitting the amount initially received from the taxpayer.
Further investigation is under way.
