A rotten body, suspected to be that of Latvian woman Liga, found from near Kovalam on April 20.Thiruvananthapuram: Refuting the claims that the Latvian woman tourist could have poisoned herself, her sister has listed out specific reasons that hint at foul play.
Liga Skromane, 33 who had come to Kerala for ayurvedic treatment for depression, went missing on March 14 and her rotting corpse was found near Kovalam last week.
The deceased's sister Ilze, who did a recce of the crime spot, said there were two ways to reach the mangrove forest from where the body was found. "Either you have to take a vehicle to reach there or go via boat. There is no chance that she would have reached there in a boat. And if she had taken the vehicular route, she would have taken the help of someone. That clearly indicates that she was not alone at the time of her death," Ilze said.
Making another point Ilze said, "The jacket found from the crime spot did not belong to Liga. She did not have money to buy a new one.”
The post-mortem report had said there were no injury marks on her body. The police also did not rule out the possibility of her consuming the cardiotoxic fruit, found growing in the area from where the body was found.
Refuting the death-by poisoning claims, Ilze said if Liga had consumed toxic fruits then the body would have been found lying on the ground. “Instead the body was found resting on a tree trunk. How can that be?," she doubted.
While asserting that Liga was in a better state of mind when she went missing, she revealed that her sister had attempted suicide before. “She attempted suicide when she was in deep distress. She was not even sleeping most of the days then,” Ilze said. “However, after coming here, her condition improved considerably,” Ilze said. “If she had to commit suicide she did not have to come this far,” she added.
Call for justice
The family of the Latvian tourist had on Monday demanded a high-level probe into the circumstances leading to her death. "We demand the constitution of a special crime investigation team to find out what happened to Liga Skromene," her sister Ilze, told reporters here. "We want justice for Liga," an emotional Ilze said.
Hinting at delay in starting the probe, Ilze said the Kerala police had set up a special investigation team to probe into her disappearance only 10 days after the family had filed a missing complaint.
"The police begun a serious probe to trace her only 10 days after Liga disappeared," she said. "There have been serious lapses in the inquiry ," she alleged.
Liga's decapitated body was recovered from a bushy isolated area, near a mangrove forest, on the banks of Karmana river at Thiruvallam on April 20.
The police are awaiting DNA test reports to confirm that the body is indeed that of Liga, while her kin had identified it by the hair and clothes.
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