THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Thiruvallam police have arrested a 54-year-old man for allegedly threatening a witness in the case related to the rape and murder of Latvian woman Liga Skromane at Kovalam to turn hostile. The arrested is Jayapalan, a native of Thiruvallam.
According to police, the suspect threatened the witness named Pradeep, of Vandithadam, on Friday. Jayapalan is a local leader of a communal organisation and a relative of the accused in the rape and murder case. The police said that special police patrolling has begun to keep a tab on the residences of the witnesses following threats. The trial in the case is set to begin on June 1. It was a case that created a lot of controversies in Kerala. The incident was also noticed abroad as the victim was a foreign woman.
Last year, Ilze Skromane, sister of Liga, approached the Kerala High Court demanding a speedy trial in the case. According to reports, Ilze has sought a fast-track court and appointment of a woman judge to hear the case. The 33-year-old Liga, who lived in Dublin, was abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered after arriving in India for traditional treatment for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Liga went missing from an ayurvedic centre on March 14, 2018.
Her decomposed body was recovered from a mangrove forest at Panathura near Kovalam on April 20. The special investigation team which probed the case concluded that Liga was strangled to death. The local police had arrested a caterer and a tourist guide in connection with the murder. But following a delay in filing of the chargesheet by the police, the two accused managed to come out on bail.
Soon after her murder, Liga’s partner Andrew Jordan said he was not satisfied with the investigation by the local police and demanded a probe by the CBI. Jordan also said that Liga could have been saved if the police had acted swiftly.