2 youths in Kerala held for rape and murder of Latvian woman

Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Kerala police finally managed to track and arrest the two locals who raped and murdered a Latvian woman whom they met at Kovalam beach in Kerala, in March.

The accused — Umesh, and Udayan, are locals, who live close to Kovalam beach where the woman’s body was found. They have a heavy rap sheet with numerous cases registered against them with the police.

Assistant Commissioner of Police, K Dinil, confirmed the arrest and said, “ It is sheer coincidence that while the victim’s highly decomposed mortal remains were laid to rest by her sister in our area on Thursday, we arrested the two accused”, as reported by Mid Day.

What happened According to another officer part of the SIT, the accused offered the woman to show around and offered her weed. As she was highly under the influence of drugs, they raped her repeatedly. She wanted to return but they wouldn’t let her and as an altercation broke out they strangulated her and got ride of her by staging it as a suicide.

Confident of not being caught Dinil said, “ Post the murder, the accused continued to live in the same locality as they were confident no one would reach the crime spot.” Dinil added that the biggest reason for the accused not to flee from their village was that when the police flashed the photograph of the missing woman, no one from Kovalam or neighbouring areas could identify her. These two were the only people to spot her walking on the beach.

On the slipper and jacket found at the crime scene, which the sister of the deceased said did not belong to the victim, the police said, “ We are yet to ascertain the evidence.” Meanwhile, the police will be producing the accused in court on Friday and seeking their custody.

“We’ve gathered enough circumstantial and scientific evidence to nail the accused, and are confident they will be convicted,” the officer said.

State Director General of Police Lokanath Behara has already lauded the SIT for its detection work and has announced a reward for the team that cracked the case under tremendous pressure.

The woman’s sister who was disappointed with the earlier investigation says the police have done their best. “Senior police officer Manoj Abraham has been in touch with me. I know they are doing their best to investigate and ensure justice. I am satisfied with what they are doing, and don’t want to delve into the past,” she said.

The woman’s funeral was held today in Thiruvananthapuram and there will be a memorial on Sunday. “It will be a tribute to her life. My sister loved Kerala and received a lot of love and support. We don’t want to leave India with bad memories”, as reported by NDTV.