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Madikeri, May 11: Kodagu police have apprehended the man allegedly responsible for the brutal murder of a minor girl within the confines of Kumbaragadige village in Karnataka's Somwarpet taluk. 

Kodagu Superintendent of Police, K Ramarajan, disclosed that the arrested individual is Prakash (32) from Hammiyala village in Somwarpet taluk. However, authorities are still in the process of recovering the severed head of the victim. The perpetrator had absconded with the victim's severed head after committing the crime. 

Search operations for the suspect commenced late on Thursday night (May 9), with officials diligently pursuing leads. Acting on information suggesting the suspect's presence in a forested area near the village, the police swiftly moved in and apprehended him.

The victim US Meena, 15, a student of Surlabbi High School, had passed the SSLC examinations, the results of which were announced on May. One same day, she was murdered. 

Reportedly, the engagement of the minor girl with the suspect was thwarted by officials from the Women and Child Development department. Subsequently, officials persuaded the girl's parents against proceeding with the marriage. 

However, despite these interventions, the suspect forcibly entered her residence during the night, purportedly abducted her, and later perpetrated the heinous crime in a wooded area on the outskirts of the forest, before absconding with her severed head.

In a fresh claim, arrested BJP leader and advocate G Devaraje Gowda has alleged that Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and four other ministers were behind exposing Prajwal Revanna’s sex scam that has brought disgrace to Janata Dal (Secular) H D Deve Gowda family. 

Devaraje Gowda has been arrested in a sexual abuse case. 

Speaking to reporters while being taken to the district prisons, in Hassan on Friday, Gowda alleged that he was offered Rs 100 crore to drag the name of H D Kumaraswamy in the Prajwal’s case. 

“D K Shivakumar had offered me Rs 100 crore to project that H D Kumaraswamy was behind the case. The offer was made through ministers N Chaluvarayaswamy, Krishna Byre Gowda, Priyank Kharge and another minister. They had even sent Rs 5 crore as advance to Bowring Club. But I did not agree. Hence, they hatched a plot to trap me,” Gowda alleged.

“It is D K Shivakumar, who collected all information from Prajwal Revanna’s former car driver Karthik and readied the pen drive. A team of four ministers were formed to handle the issue. As I did not agree to the plan. They planned to bring disrepute to the BJP, Narendra Modi and H D Kumaraswamy,” he said.

Gowda further alleged that former MLC M A Gopalaswamy of Channarayapatna was sent to him for negotiation.

“The main intention of D K Shivakumar is to bring disrepute to Modi and BJP in the case. Besides, he wanted to defame H D Kumaraswamy’s leadership in the state” he claimed. “They filed a sexual harassment and rape case against me, but found no evidence. Now, they are trying to fix me in the pen drive case” he alleged.

The stage is all set for the third phase of voting for the Lok Sabha election, which will take place on Tuesday, May 7. The polling will take place across 94 Lok Sabha constituencies covering ten states and two union territories.

Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seats were also to vote in the third phase of polling. However, due to several connectivity issues, the Election Commission of India rescheduled it to May 25.

The voting in the third phase of the Lok Sabha election will begin at 7 am on Tuesday and conclude at 5 pm. The results will be declared on June 4.

Lok Sabha election Phase 3: List of states and constituencies:

Over 1,300 candidates, including 120 women, are in the fray in the third phase of the Lok Sabha election. Some of the key candidates include bigwigs such as union ministers Amit Shah, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Mansukh Mandaviya, Parshottam Rupala, Pralhad Joshi, and SP Singh Baghel. Former Madhya Pradesh chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Digvijaya Singh are also contesting the election in Madhya Pradesh. At the same time, the fate of former Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai will also be decided in the third phase. Meanwhile, several members of Mulayam Singh Yadav's family are also contesting in this phase in Uttar Pradesh.

List of key candidates and their constituencies

Amit Shah (BJP) - Gandhi Nagar, Gujarat

Digvijaya Singh (Congress) - Rajgarh, Madhya Pradesh

Shivraj Singh Chouhan (BJP) - Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh

Dimple Yadav (SP) - Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh

Supriya Sule (NCP) - Baramati, Maharashtra

Purshottam Rupala (BJP) - Rajkot, Gujarat

Jyotiraditya Scindia (BJP) - Guna, Madhya Pradesh

Pralhad Joshi (BJP) - Dharwad, Karnataka

KS Eshwarappa (BJP) - Shimoga, Karnataka

Praniti Shinde (Congress) - Solapur, Maharashtra

Hasmukbhai Patel (BJP) - Ahmedabad East, Gujarat

Pallavi Dempo (BJP) - South Goa, Goa

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (Congress) - Berhampore, West Bengal

The Lok Sabha elections are being held in seven phases - with the first phases concluded on April 19 and April 26. The third phase will be held on May 7; the fourth phase will be held on May 13; the fifth phase will be on May 20; the sixth phase will be on May 25; and the seventh phase on June 1.