Killed Latvian tourist to be cremated on Thursday: Sister

Thiruvananthapuram, May 2 (IANS) Even as the Kerala Police was said to be poised to crack the murder case of Latvian woman who went missing from Kovalam, her sister Ilzie said on Wednesday that she would be cremated here on Thursday.

IIzie told the media here that the funeral of 33-year-old Liga Skromene will be performed at the public crematorium and ashes taken to her home country.

She also said that the police was "doing a good job" to crack the case.

"We are in touch with Manoj Abraham (Inspector General of Police heading the probe)," said IIzie, who later met Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at his office.

The Chief Minister's Office, in a statement on Wednesday, said that IIzie "apologised" for wrong media reports that linked Vijayan's office to the case and thanked the Kerala government for the support extended to her.

Liga, her partner Andrew and Ilzie had arrived in Kerala for ayurvedic treatment at a facility on Thiruvananthapuram's outskirts when she went missing on March 14. 

She was last seen hiring an auto-rickshaw to Kovalam. She was not carrying her passport or mobile phone with her when she went missing.

The Congress-led opposition last week slamed Vijayan for failing to meet IIzie and Andrew who wanted to complain about no news about her then missing sister and a speedy probe.

On April 20, Liga's highly decomposed body was found in a marshy area near the famed Kovalam tourist destination. An autopsy pointed to strangulation.

Once it was confirmed that Liga was murdered, police questioned several area residents and took four of them into custody. 

Informed sources said that two of them had confessed to the crime, though police is awaiting viscera reports, expected to be available on Thursday, to announce the formal arrests.