THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Eighteen days after Latvian national Liga Skromane went missing from Kovalam, the SIT sought the Indian Navy’s support for search operations off Kovalam and Vizhinjam coasts. The SIT suspects she might have committed suicide. The Navy team is expected to begin search operations on Sunday, the police said. “Efforts are on to trace Liga. Search is on at resorts and homestays from Poovar to Kappad in Kozhikode district. However, there has been no positive signs so far. Hence, we have decided to conduct a search in sea too. Though we had conducted a search with the help of scuba divers last week, we need to intensify the search.
There are strong reasons to suspect she could have committed suicide. She had been suffering from depressive disorder and had earlier attempted suicide twice. However, we can’t confirm she could have resorted to the extreme step,” V Suresh Kumar, Control Room ACP told Express. Last week, a special team was sent to Gokarna in Karnataka following reports she was found there along with another tourist.
When contacted, Ilze Skromane, the sister of Liga, said she is satisfied with the search operations. “The police are doing a good job. I am also following up the case with Union Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj. Hopefully, the police will find out her soon,” Ilze said.
Liga went missing from Kovalam on March 14 after she reached the beach from an ayurveda healing centre at Pothencode. A joint search operation was conducted by the city shadow and rural police at resorts and home stays at Kovalam, Vizhinjam, and Poovar. Two weeks ago, State Police Chief Loknath Behera had constituted a SIT to find out Liga and had also announced a reward of `2 lakh for those who trace her. A social media campaign is also underway to strengthen the efforts to find out Liga.