Abhijith, the younger brother of Arjun, who is currently in Shiroor, told South First that there was no official confirmation on whether the body inside the cabin was Arjun's.
Published Sep 25, 2024 | 5:24 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 25, 2024 | 5:24 PM
Shirur landslide. (Supplied)
The missing lorry which was driven by Kerala native Arjun was found on Wednesday, 25 September, during the search operations at the Gangavali river in Shirur area in Ankola of Karnataka. Reports suggest that a body was found inside the recovered cabin of the vehicle.
It was recovered 71 days after Arjun was washed away by a landslide in the area.
Abhijith, the younger brother of Arjun, who is currently in Shiroor, told South First that there was no official confirmation on whether the body inside the cabin was Arjun’s.
A DNA test will be conducted to ascertain the identity of the body found inside the cabin of the lorry.
“The district administration is doing their best to recover the lorry. However, we haven’t received any official confirmation yet. We’ll coordinate with the officials, and only then can we provide a confirmation,” Abhijith said.
The search for Arjun, a resident of Kannadikkal in Kozhikode, has been going on since he went missing on 16 July.
It was the lorry’s cabin to be recovered first. A black metal object was found first by the search team, and shortly afterwards, as the cabin was lifted, the body inside was revealed, as per media reports.
The lorry’s owner Manaf has confirmed that the recovered lorry was the one driven by Arjun during the incident.
The search for Arjun was suspended on 17 August due to challenges in extracting the vehicle from the mud, resulting in several days of inactivity.
Although there were proposals to use a dredger for the operation, funding posed a significant barrier, with rental costs estimated at ₹1 crore.
However, following a meeting between Arjun’s family and Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, a decision was made to resume the search, with the Karnataka Government agreeing to cover the dredger rental expenses.
