Foreign tourist murder: two arrested sent in police custody

The two men arrested for allegedly raping and murdering a Lithuanian woman tourist at Kovalam near here were sent to police custody today.

The First Class Magistrate court at nearby Neyyattinkara sent Umesh and Udayan to police custody till May 17.

The duo were arrested yesterday.

Meanwhile, dramatic scenes were witnessed in the court premises as relatives of the accused staged aprotest and claimed that the two were innocent.

They also alleged that the police had forced the duo to confess to the crime.

Kerala Police had recorded the arrest of Umesh and Udayan yesterday in connection with the death of the 33-year-old Lithuanian tourist, who had gone missing under mysterious circumstances from Kovalam on March 14.

Her highly decomposed and headless body was recovered from a mangrove forest at nearby Thiruvallam on April 21.

Umesh and Udayan have been charged under IPC sections 302 (murder), 376 (rape)and 20(b) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, police said.

Police said yesterday that the woman was raped and murdered by the two accused, who are drug peddlers, on March 14, the day she went missing.

They lured her to the spot saying it was a scenic and beautiful place, made her consume ganja and then sexually assaulted and strangled her to death, they said.