Kerala court sentences 2 men for life for rape & murder of Latvian tourist

A court in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the southern Indian state of Kerala, on Tuesday (6) sentenced two men in their twenties to life imprisonment for raping and murdering Latvian tourist in 2018.

The additional district sessions court also asked the convicted duo -- Umesh, 24, and Udayakumar, 28 -- both local residents, to pay a fine of Rs 1.65 lakh (£1,642) each.

The court said that the convicted men would remain in jail "until the end of their biological life", the BBC reported.

The prosecution said Liga Skromane, a 33-year-old tourist, went missing from an Ayurvedic treatment centre in Thiruvananthapuram on March 14, 2018, after she visited the southern state, often called the 'God's own country', from Ireland.

Her highly decomposed body was found a month later from a mangrove forest near Kerala's Kovalam beach by two fishermen.

The police arrested Umesh and Udayakumar under sections 302 (murder) and 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 20(b) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. They also added that the duo were involved in several criminal cases, the Indian Express reported.

According to the prosecution, Liga was lured to the spot and made to consume ganja before a sexual assault and murder.

Liga came to Kerala along with her husband Andrew and younger sister Ilze Skromane.

Ilze took up the responsibility to track her missing sister and apart from registering a complaint with the local police, she went to several places to find her sister and also declared a reward for information about her, the Express added.