Two arrested for rape and murder of Lithuanian woman in Kerala
Police said the accused Umesh and Udayan were working as unregistered tourist guides who supplied the victim with narcotics and later sexually assaulted and killed her.
Two men were on Thursday arrested on charges of raping and murdering a Lithuanian tourist who went missing from Kovalam last month, Kerala Police chief Loknath Behra said.
Accused Umesh and Udayan are relatives and were working as unregistered tourist guides, the DGP told the media.
Inspector General of Police Manoj Abraham, who led the probe team, said the accused will be presented in a court in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday for remand.
“The woman was lured by the accused and supplied with narcotics. She was later sexually assaulted and attacked when she resisted. The probe will continue as we want to find out if there are more people involved in the crime,” said Abraham.
A day earlier, the Lithuanian’s sister IIzie told the media in Thiruvananthapuram that the funeral of the 33-year-old deceased will be performed at the public crematorium here on Thursday and ashes taken to her home country.
She had also met chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan at his office. The victim, her partner Andrew and Ilzie had arrived in Kerala for ayurvedic treatment at a facility on Thiruvananthapuram’s outskirts when she went missing on March 14.
The victim was last seen hiring an auto-rickshaw to Kovalam. She was not carrying her passport or mobile phone with her when she went missing. On April 20, her highly decomposed body was found in a marshy area near the famed Kovalam tourist destination. An autopsy pointed to strangulation.
Once murder was confirmed, police questioned several area residents and had taken four of them in custody.