An additional district sessions court in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram on Friday found two people guilty of rape and murder of a Latvian tourist in 2018. The quantum of punishment will be pronounced on Monday. Liga Skromane, a 33-year-old tourist who had come to Kerala from Ireland, had gone missing from an Ayurvedic treatment centre in Thiruvananthapuram on March 14, 2018. Her highly decomposed body was recovered from a mangrove forest near Kovalam beach on April 21. The police arrested Umesh and Udayan under sections 302 (murder) and 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 20(b) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. The police said that the accused were involved in several criminal cases. According to the prosecution, the accused lured Liga to the spot, made her consume ganja and then sexually assaulted and strangled her. Then a resident of Ireland, Liga had come to Kerala seeking Ayurvedic treatment for depression and skin disease. She was in Kerala along with her husband Andrew and younger sister IIze Skromane. The case got media attention after IIze took it upon herself to track her missing sister. Apart from registering a missing complaint with the local police, IIze went to several locations to trace her sister. She had even declared a reward for information on Liga’s whereabouts.
