Two Kerala men were sentenced to life imprisonment on Tuesday after being found guilty of the rape and murder of a Latvian tourist in 2018. An additional district sessions court in Thiruvanthapuram also ordered the convicted Umesh,24, and Udayakumar, 28 to pay a fine of Rs 1.65 lakh each. The 33-year-old-tourist, Liga Skromane came to Kerala from Ireland in March 2018 and went missing from an Ayurvedic treatment centre. A month later, her decomposed body was recovered from a mangrove forest near Kovalam beach on 21 April. The police then arrested Umesh and Udayalumar under sections 302 for murder and 376 for rape of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). According to the prosecution, the two men lured Liga and took her to a spot where they made her consume ganja and then sexually assaulted her. When she tried to confront them, they strangled her to death. Liga had come to Kerala with her husband, Andrew, and younger sister Ilze Skromane, to seek Ayurvedic treatment for depression and skin disease. The case came to light when Ilze took it upon herself to track her missing sister. She first registered a missing complaint with the local police and then went to several locations to trace her sister and even declared a reward for any information about Liga. On Tuesday, the court resumed its proceedings to deliver judgement in the case, but the convicted duo also asked the court to order a polygraph test. They also claimed that they have seen an unidentified Yoga instructor fleeing the crime scene. Furthermore, they stated that a strand of hair discovered in the area remained unidentified. The court, however, refused to hear their claims. The crime was earlier dismissed as a suicide case, but the victim's sister demanded a comprehensive probe into the case. She made an appeal before the Kerala Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan after which Kerala Police constituted a special investigation team for this case.