New Delhi, June 14: The body of India’s senior atomic scientist was recovered from a river near a nuclear plant in India’s southern Karnataka state after six days of search operations following his disappearance, news reports said Sunday. Divers found the body of Loknath Mahalingam, 47, in the Kali river on Saturday night, after he went missing from the Kaiga Atomic Power Station, about 500 kilometres north of state capital Bangalore, Mahalingam’s family identified the victim, the report said.
Local police said the body was taken to a government hospital for an autopsy to determine if it was a case of suicide or murder.
Police also launched investigations whether there was any foul play behind his death.
Mahalingam was last seen taking a walk in the complex on the morning of June 8.
The scientist had access to some sensitive nuclear information and his disappearance triggered fears that he might have been abducted, local media outlets reported.
Soon after he went missing, Interior Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram ordered an inquiry into his disappearance.
After days of conducting an intensive search in and around the nuclear plant, local police units and forest officials also combed the Kaiga forests.
Police and intelligence officials later sought the assistance of a team of divers to carry out search operations in the Kali river.
The divers searched a stretch of 35 to 40 kilometres in the Kali river that runs along the Kaiga township before finding the body.
–Agencies