THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the missing case of 33-year-old Latvian Liga Skromane from Kovalam has extended the search operations to Gokarna beach in Karnataka coast following reports she was found there along with another tourist. A team from SIT have been camping at the beach for the past two days to trace her.
According to V Suresh Kumar, Control Room ACP who is part of the probe, a team was sent to Gokarna based on a tip-off and an intensive search is being carried out at the place.“We do not have any confirmation yet,” he said. “But some information is coming in indicating she was in Gokarna. Similarly, we have conducted a search operation in the sea off Kovalam coast with the help of expert divers. Though we conducted two-hour operations in the sea on Monday evening, the search was stopped after no traces were found. However, we will continue the search.” He added a police team has also been sent to Kappad in Kozhikode following another tip-off.
Liga went missing from Kovalam on March 14 after she reached the beach leaving from an Ayurveda healing centre at Pothencode.For the past two weeks, a joint search operation of city shadow and rural police was being conducted at the resorts and homestays at Kovalam, Vizhinjam and Poovar. The police team conducted the search after receiving information that she is suspected to have roamed around Adimalathura and nearby areas. However, the police are weighing all possibilities to find her.
Last Friday, the State Police Chief Loknath Behera constituted the SIT for the search of Liga. The DGP announced a reward of Rs 2 lakh for those who trace her. Earlier, Ilze Skormane, the younger sister of the missing tourist, had also announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh. Liga who is suffering from post-traumatic depression had come to Kerala along with Ilze last month for treatment at an Ayurveda centre at Pothencode. They came to the centre after visiting Kochi, Alappuzha, and Varkala.
On March 14, Liga left the rejuvenation centre leaving her passport and hired a trip in an autorickshaw to Kovalam. Since then, there has been no information about her. Following this, Ilze approached ministers, police and the media seeking help to find her sister. She had even approached the Union Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj seeking aid.