Kaiga: The six-day search for scientist N Mahalingam has ended on a tragic note. His body was found by Naval divers near the Kaiga dam in the river Kaali. The family has indentified the body and confirmed that it was Mahalingam's.
The senior scientist was missing since the morning of June 8, 2009. He was last seen while going for his morning walk.
A five-member special Navy team had arrived at Kaiga and search operations were on in full swing throughout the Kaali river to find Mahalingam.
With no breakthrough in cracking the mystery over the disappearance of Mahalingam, authorities had sought the assistance of the divers from the Naval base at Karwar, Seabird, to carry out the search operations.
Intelligence officials along with CISF and local police had intensified the search operations to locate the scientific officer in the Kaiga generating station of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) associated with its training department.
The Navy divers were pressed into service after the search by the local divers was of no avail, Karwar Superintendent of Police R Gupta said.
Personnel drawn from the CISF, district police and forest department had also intensified their joint operation and were combing the Kaiga forest before the body was found in the river. (With PTI inputs)