Indian Girl disappeared in Dominican Republic?

The police authorities of Dominican Republic ramped up their efforts to track down 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh student, Sudiksha Konanki, who went missing six days ago. Konanki is a student from India.

Sudiksha went on a vacation to a resort in the Dominican Republic and vanished at the beach of the Riu Republica Hotel on March 6. Even after one week after her vanishing, there are only a few concrete clues about what happened to her.

Konanki’s whereabouts are still unknown despite frantic search involving authorities of the Dominican Republic, the US and India, to which her family belongs. The Dominican Republic National Police formed a ‘high-level commission’ to investigate into the case, alongside the general prosecutor’s office, the FBI and international liaison of the US Embassy.

Special search team

A special search operation has also been launched in the ocean, the Dominican authorities said. All government agencies are searching. Konanki travelled to the Dominican Republic with five of her female friends from the University of Pittsburgh on March 3.

On March 6, around 4:15 am, surveillance cameras captured a group of people, including Konanki, five other women and two men, entering the beach, the Dominican Republic National Police said. Earlier, the group was found drinking in the hotel’s lobby. Later, cameras captured five women and one man leaving the beach at 4:55 am, without Konanki, two sources said.

Friends raise alarm

With Konanki failing to come back to her room, her friends raised an alarm. Konanki’s sarong-style cover-up was found on a lounge chair on the beach, but there were no signs of violence, sources said.

Significantly, Konanki’s disappearance came a day after a power outage started at the hotel in which she stayed. However, it was restored later in phases.

As of Tuesday, more than 300 officers, specialists, aquatic search teams have been searching the surrounding areas of the hotel for clues about Konanki.

Meanwhile, it is being suspected that she could have drowned in the waters, though other possibilities of kidnapping and human trafficking are not being ruled out.