A year after the brutal murder of a Latvian woman in Kerala, another case of a German woman's mysterious disappearance has raised serious questions about the safety of foreign women coming to the state.
After facing a lot of criticism following the murder of Latvian Liga Skromane in 2018, the Kerala police have swung into action this week on receiving the complaint about the missing German woman Lisa Wiese.
The cops are checking all travel documents at airports across the country to find a clue to the whereabouts of the German woman, who had gone missing from Thiruvananthapuram.
The foreigner, in her 30s, came to the state capital in March, went missing soon after her arrival, police said on Sunday.
A senior police source told PTI that they received a complaint in this regard last week and an investigation was on.
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Police have received a letter from the German Consulate that she is missing. A probe has begun. She came here in March," sources said.
The police have collected information from the woman's kin via the German Consulate. They're focussing the investigation on individuals known to be close to the woman.
A UK national, Muhammed Ali, who accompanied Lisa to Kerala had returned on March 15. Information is also being collected from him to make a headway in the case, said Shankumugham ACP Ilanko.
Though their travel documents provide Amritapuri in Kollam as the contact address, the Ashram authorities revealed that no such foreigner has reached there.
The authorities added that details of all foreigners reaching the institution are systematically recorded.
Lisa left Germany on March 5 with her friend, reached Thiruvananthapuram on March 7. The case came into notice when Lisa's mother filed a complaint with the German Consulate that her daughter went missing. The complaint which has been handed over to the state police is being investigated by the Valiyathura police team.
The report of the alleged missing of the German woman has come a year after the brutal killing of a 33-year-old woman tourist from Latvia rocked the state.
Liga Skromane, the Latvian woman, had gone missing under mysterious circumstances from Kovalam on March 14 last year. Her highly decomposed and headless body was recovered from a mangrove at Thiruvallam on April 21, 2018.
Two drug-peddlers were arrested in this regard later.
The Latvian woman's sister had come out on social media requesting speedy action in the German woman missing case. 'Only God knows what her family is going through. We all can help and look for her, keep your eyes open. You can even organise into groups and go searching in your local areas,' she said in her Facebook post.
This article was originally published on Onmanorama
(With inputs from PTI)
