Overview
- The body, which teams located Friday using a thermal drone, lay in a gorge roughly 1,000–1,500 feet below the Manikyadhara viewpoint.
- The Class 10 student vanished Tuesday during a trip with about 40 relatives, and relatives say the body was found about 150 meters from her last known spot in an area searched earlier.
- Police say the cause of death remains unclear pending a post-mortem, and investigators have seized the parents’ phones and identified 240 vehicles that were at the site that day.
- Family members allege kidnapping or drugging and reject the idea of a slip, and police say they are examining accident and foul-play angles.
- The incident has spurred work on new trekking safety steps in Karnataka, with officials discussing a tracking app for visitors, designated nature guides with radios, and temporary group insurance.