Thiruvananthapuram: Though the inefficiency of the Kerala Police resulted in the death of Latvian citizen Liga, whose decomposed body was found days later, the sister of the victim bears no ill will to the people of Kerala.
In fact she also made a contribution from her earnings to the Chief Minister’s relief fund and also shared a video on Facebook. In the video, Ilze Skormane, says that Kerala is always in her thoughts and prayers. She also hoped that the hardships in Kerala resulting from the floods will be over soon.
She added, ” I am sending you all my love from the other side of the ocean. Stay strong and I will come and visit you sometime soon. ”
Ilze’s gesture of love and affection to Kerala even though she lost her sister, Liga, in the most gruesome manner, is a message of hope and concern for everyone regardless of who they are.
In her video message she says, ” “Dear Keralities, I just wanted to make this video to tell you that I have not forgotten you. I have been watching closely the hard times you are going through at the moment. Please know that you are in my thoughts and in my prayers. Hope that really soon this hardship will be behind you and you will be able to start to rebuild your lives. I am sending you all my love from the other side of the ocean. Stay strong and I will come and visit you sometime soon. Hopefully, by that time everything will be back to normal.”
Ilze and her sister Liga arrived in Kerala last February for vacation. Liga went missing on 14 March. Ilze and Liga’s husband Andrew had approached the police but was met with disappointed. The police did not bother to investigate the matter immediately, which made the duo to search for Liga on their own.
Ilze posted her frantic searches on Facebook which attracted the public’s attention. Soon, their story was being reported in them media and pressure mounted on the police to search for the missing Liga.
Unfortunately, Liga’s decomposed body was found on 20 April in a mangrove forest at Panathura in Thiruvananthapuram.
Social activist Aswathy from Jwala Foundation also joined in the search for Ilze’s sister and also helped Ilze after Liga’s body was found.
The murder of Liga brought criticism on Pinarayai Vijayan for the lapses made by the police force. Soon, communist cyber goons began trolling Aswathy for speaking against the Chief Minister. She was also accused of taking money from Ilze.
Ilze herself had to appear for a press conference to refute such allegations and extended her support to Aswathy who helped them face the loss of Liga.
After the body was recovered, a police investigation was held and two persons were arrested.