THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An autorickshaw driver listed as a prosecution witness in the case of murder of a Latvian woman near Kovalam beach in 2018 testified before the Additional District and Sessions Court that it was he who had dropped her near the beach.
Driver Santosh Kumar told the court that the Latvian on her own had travelled to Kovalam in his vehicle.
There was another woman passenger in the vehicle when the tourist boarded it. The Latvian was taken to the beach after the other woman passenger was dropped at her destination.
During the journey, the tourist mentioned “beach” and “smoke” several times. When he dropped her at Kovalam, she gave him Rs 800 in fare, Kumar added. The defence counsel argued that the co-passenger in the autorickshaw was not made a witness in the case and the auto driver was parroting the police story.
The Latvian woman was reported missing from a retreat centre near Pothencode and her body was later recovered from a swamp near Vazhamuttom. Two local residents were arrested by the police accusing them of raping the woman before murdering her.