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Sudiksha Konanki case: Officials questioning ‘young man’ who went swimming with Pitt student before she vanished
Investigators are questioning a man who was seen swimming at the beach with Sudiksha Konanki sometime before she was last spotted going for a walk.
A “young man” is reportedly being questioned days after University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki went missing while on a spring break holiday in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. The Indian-origin woman, 20, was last seen at the Riu Republica Resort beach on March 6 around 4:50 am. This was the resort she was staying at before she mysteriously vanished.
Man seen swimming with Sudiksha Konanki before she went missing
Investigators are now questioning a man who was seen swimming at the beach with Konanki sometime before she was last spotted going for a walk, Dominican Republic outlet Listin Diario reported. The outlet reported that the two of them went swimming together the morning Konanki disappeared.
Konanki and her friends were seen on surveillance footage near the beach before she disappeared without a trace. The group of classmates from Pitt who were on the trip with Konanki are also being questioned to corroborate the man’s story. It is unclear if the man reportedly being questioned is one of the missing woman’s classmates from school.
Missing posters describe Konanki, who is an Indian national from Chantilly, Virginia, as 5-foot-3 with black hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a brown bikini when she disappeared, which she paired with bracelets on both arms and an anklet.
Several agencies are part of a search effort that is underway, including the Dominican Civil Defense, local firefighters, the Dominican Navy, the National Police, and Politur. The Indian embassy is reportedly also working with officials from Loudoun County, Virginia, and various Dominican Republic agencies.
Sudiksha’s father, Subbarayudu Konanki, recently told CNN that his daughter was planning to pursue a career in medicine. “My daughter is a very nice girl. She’s ambitious,” he said.
“She went to the beach on March 6 early morning around 4 a.m. with friends and some other guys they met at the resort. After that, her friends came back after some time and my daughter did not come back, did not show up from the beach,” the father added.
