Kerala: Court finds rape-murder accused of Lativan tourist guilty of all charges
Dec 02, 2022
Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], December 2 : A court in Kerala on Friday found the two men arrested for raping and killing a Latvian tourist guilty of all charges imposed on them.
The police said that both the accused, identified as Udayukumar and Umesh have been found guilty on all charges and said that the 33-year-old victim was drugged before she was raped and murdered.
The Latvian tourist was found missing from Varkala on March 14, 2018, and her decapitated body was found on April 20, 2018.
The Inspector-General (IG) of the Police and the Investigation Officer of the case, P Prakash underscored that the lack of an eye witness, days-old body and heavy rain added to the challenges faced by the police in nabbing the accused persons.
"The investigation started after the dead body of the missing lady was found, before that it was difficult to trace her location. Her dead body was at least 33 days old when it was found in a humid area amid heavy rains, which further added to the difficulty in collecting evidence," IG P Prakash said.
He further said that the accused persons also tried to influence and destroy the evidence after committing the crime.
More details are awaited.
