Two teenage female athletes living in Va A Sports Authority of India (SAI) hosteler was found dead in her room on Thursday, according to police. The deceased have been identified as 18-year-old Sandra A from Chaliyam Kozhikode district and 15-year-old Vyshnavi V from Muthakkal in Thiruvananthapuram district.
Police confirmed that Sandra was an athletic trainee in the second year of the higher secondary school, while Vyshnavi was a class 10 student and a kabaddi player. The tragedy was discovered at around 5am when other residents of the hostel noticed that the pair had not attended the scheduled morning training session.
After several unanswered knocks, hostel staff forced entry into the room and found both girls hanging from the ceiling fans, police said. Investigators noted that while Vyshnavi was assigned to a different room, she remained in Sandra’s room Wednesday night. Both athletes were last seen by fellow exercisers shortly before 12:30 p.m.
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The FIR was lodged on the basis of a complaint by an SAI officer of the centre. According to the FIR, Vyshnavi was found hanging on a sheet from a fan near the door of room 21 on the top floor. Sandra was found in the same room, also hanging from a separate ceiling fan using a sheet.
The Kollam East police station has registered a case of unnatural death under section 194 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Officials confirmed that post-mortem examinations are underway and the bodies will be released to the families soon. Both girls lived in the facility for two years.
“The reason for committing such an act is yet to be ascertained. We are conducting an investigation into the incident,” said Kollam City Police Commissioner Kiran Narayanan. PTI.
The Sports Authority of India said a case has been registered.
“SAI is cooperating with the investigation. The investigation is ongoing,” the police said.
Police said no suicide note was found at the scene. The investigators intend to record the statements of coaches, relatives and other athletes at the dormitory. The mobile phones of the deceased will also be analyzed as part of the ongoing investigation.
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Kerala: ED arrests businessman who accused agency official of bribery
The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) arrested a Kerala-based businessman who had earlier accused an agency official of corruption and detained him under anti-money laundering laws on Thursday. PTI.
Aneesh Babu has been taken into custody at the ED office in Kochi following an investigation into a money laundering case involving the export of cashew nuts. He is likely to appear before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court this Friday, the report said.
In May 2025, the Kerala Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) in Ernakulam filed a case against Sekhar Kumar, deputy director at the Kochi ED office, along with several others. VACB claimed that private intermediaries approached Baba to “demand” ₹2 million in exchange for a “settlement” of the money laundering probe launched against him by the ED in March 2021.
The original ED investigation into Babu, his father Babu George and his mother Anitha Babu stemmed from five separate FIRs registered by the Kerala Police Crime Branch and the Kottarakara Police in Kollam.
