A man and woman were found dead in the waters of a lake in Fort Kochi on Sunday morning. The deaths came to light when residents spotted the bodies floating on the surface of the lake in Kamalakkadavu a little after 9am.

Fisherman who had gone to work in a mini-fishing harbour first spotted the body and alerted the coastal police. The coastal police then recovered the bodies by boat.

The right hand of the man and the left hand of the woman were tied together using a shawl, which police suspect belonged to the woman, said South station Sub Inspector Bijesh.

The deceased have been identified as Tripunithura native, Layana, and Sandeep, a resident of Thevara. While Layana was 18 years old, Sandeep was 24 years old. Police say that two were in a relationship with each other. 

The bodies have been sent to Kalamassery Medical College hospital, said Sub Inspector Bijesh.

Sandeep, who had studied a diploma in hotel management, was unemployed following a recent accident. Layana was pursuing a beautician’s course after finishing Class 12. On one occasion, Sandeep’s family had warned him against pursuing the relationship with Layana. However, no further confrontations on this issue had reportedly occurred.

The police believe that the couple committed suicide, but are as yet unable to confirm this. No suicide note was recovered from either person’s body.

Layana and Sandeep both went missing two days ago. Following this, a missing person’s complaint was filed at the Hill Palace police station on the same day by Layana’s parents. On Saturday, Sandeep’s parents approached the South police station about their missing son.