The woman's body was found hanging upside down in Thiruvananthapuram.
Highlights
- Liga Skromane had been missing from Kovalam since March 14
- Her sister has identified the body, waiting for forensic reports: cops
- 33-year-old's husband and sister had been frantically searching for her
The body of a woman hanging upside down from a tree, with the head severed, has been found in Kerala's capital Thiruvananthapuram. Police suspect it could be that of a
33-year-old Latvian woman who went missing from the beach town of Kovalam last month. Though the woman's sister identified the body this morning, police are waiting for the forensic tests to be completed for an official confirmation.
The woman's husband and sister had been frantically searching for her ever since she went missing. She had arrived in Thiruvananthapuram on February 21 for Ayurvedic treatment of post-traumatic depression. On March 14, she went to a beach in Kovalam, about 30 km from the state capital, without informing her sister, who had come to India with her. There has been no trace of the woman since then.
"The victim's sister has identified the body this morning. But we still will be going ahead with a DNA test as well as a postmortem report, to confirm the identity," senior police officer Manoj Abraham told NDTV.
Further details of the state of the body will be known only after the tests, according to police sources.
The woman's husband and sister - who stuck posters on pillars - had appealed Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan as well as Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj for helping trace her. They had announced a reward of Rs. one lakh for anyone who gave information on the Latvian woman.
According to the sister, police told her that the Latvian woman was last seen on March 19 by locals near Kovalam. But there was no trace of her since then.
Her husband suspects that his wife was kidnapped. "The police, I think, initially kept thinking that she will return by herself and that she must have gone away for a while. We suspect something else. We believe she must have been taken away by a group that is not letting her off," the Latvian woman's sister had told NDTV last month.