A function which will take an item and a list and return a boolean of whether or not the item was found on the list or any sublists.
(define is-present?
(lambda (item lis)
(if (null? lis) #f
(if (eqv? item (car lis))
#t
(is-present? (item (cdr lis)))))))
I am able to search the element in a plain list but when there is a sublist in the list it fails.