Karnataka landslide: SC to consider petition to intensify search for Arjun today

New Delhi: The Supreme Court, on Monday, will hear a plea seeking direction to intensify the search for Kozhikode native Arjun, who went missing in a landslide in Karnataka's Shiroor.

Justices Vikram Nath and PB Varale listed the petition in the list of cases to be considered today, following the direction of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud. The case is listed as the 68th petition.

Lawyer K.R Subhash Chandran approached the Supreme Court demanding that the central government and the Karnataka government be instructed to intensify the search. The demand in the petition filed in the Supreme Court is to direct a non-stop search till Arjun is found. The petition has also demanded that instructions be given to deploy the army for this purpose.

On the morning of July 16, Arjun (30), a resident of Kannadikkal in Kozhikode, encountered the landslide while his lorry was parked near a tea shop in Ankola along the Panvel-Kochi national highway. The GPS signal from Arjun’s lorry was last located at the site where 10 people, including a tea shop owner, perished in the landslide.

The search for Arjun, the Malayali lorry driver, has entered the seventh day. Scuba divers have started search in the Gangavali River in the portions where the sand dunes are found. Meanwhile, the authorities are not completely ruling out the possibility of Arjun's lorry being under the soil. Therefore, a search will be conducted here on Monday using a sophisticated metal detector that detects objects up to 12 meters deep underground. It is expected that the soil in that area will be completely removed by noon.