Sudiksha Konanki missing case: Last moments show her walking towards beach with friends

In a footage doing the rounds on social media, 20-year-old Sudiksha Konanki, an Indian student at the University of Pittsburgh was last seen walking towards the beach with her friends before she went missing in a busy Dominican Republic tourist town of Punta Cana on March 6.

The surveillance footage captured by cameras on Riu Republica Hotel premises showed Konanki walking out of the hotel with a group of friends at 4.15 am, hours before she disappeared. 

“The interrogations are being carried out on the individuals involved in this group, as well as on the administrative staff, the hotel that has been providing support. The review of the camera footage has also been expanded, CNN quoted a Dominican Republic National police spokesman as saying.

Konanki, a citizen of India, is a permanent resident of the United States. She was on a spring break with five female college friends.

Search efforts

The FBI joined the search for Konanki on Tuesday and Dominican police said they are re-interviewing people who were with her before she vanished in the predawn hours of March 6.

The hotel said in a statement that Konanki’s disappearance coincided with a power outage that prompted multiple guests to head to the beach.

Dominican President Luis Abinader told reporters that he lamented the situation.

“We are concerned,” he said Monday during his weekly meeting with the press. “All government agencies are searching … because the latest information we have from one of them, from the last person who was with the young woman, what he says according to the reports is that a wave, while on the beach, crashed into them.”

Authorities were using drones, helicopters and detection dogs on Monday to scour the waters off the island’s east coast where she was supposedly last seen, Jensen Sanchez, a Civil Defence spokesman, told The Associated Press.

What may have happened

“The search is underway at sea because it’s presumed she drowned. According to the boy who was with her, the waves swept her away, but that is under police investigation,” the spokesman said.

He noted it can take more than a week for a body to surface in warm waters.

Father urges for wider search

Her father, Subbarayudu Konanki, said he has asked authorities to widen their investigation. “It’s four days, and if she was in water, she would likely have been strewn to shore,” Subbarayudu Konanki told WTOP-FM.

“She’s not found, so we’re asking them to investigate multiple options, like kidnapping or abduction.”

When her family learned of her disappearance, Subbarayudu Konanki and his wife Sreedevi flew to Punta Cana with two family friends. He and a family friend filed a record of complaint Sunday, asking authorities to widen the investigation.

The complaint notes that the student’s belongings, including her phone and wallet, were left with her friends, “which is unusual because she always carried her phone with her”.

“In light of these circumstances, I respectfully request that the authorities take immediate steps to investigate not only the possibility of an accidental drowning, but also the possibility of a kidnapping or foul play,” he wrote, according to WTOP-FM.

(With inputs from agencies)