Thiruvananthapuram: In the case of rape and murder of a foreign woman in Kovalam, the accused were sentenced to life imprisonment. The verdict is that of Thiruvananthapuram First Class Additional District Sessions Court. The Thiruvananthapuram Additional Sessions Court announced life imprisonment based on finding the accused Umesh and Udayakumar guilty. Punishment was given for crimes like murder, rape, drug use, and destruction of evidence.
Liga, a Latvian woman, had come to Kerala for Ayurvedic treatment. They went missing from Pothencode on March 14, 2018. After 35 days, the decomposed body was recovered from the forest near Kovalam. The case is that the woman was brought to a deserted forest here and then raped after being given ganja and then strangled to death.
The prosecution had sought maximum punishment for the accused. A special team headed by Thiruvananthapuram Range IG Manoj Abraham investigated the case and arrested the accused.