Joshua Riibe fights to get passport back after leaving DR resort where Sudiksha Konanki went missing

Joshua Riibe left the upscale Dominican Republic resort where Pitt student Sudiksha Konanki went missing — and is fighting to get his passport back so he can come home to the US, according to reports.

Riibe, 22, once identified as a “person of interest” in the 20-year-old coed’s mysterious disappearance on March 6, is now staying elsewhere on the Caribbean nation, one day after a Dominican judge ruled that he was “free to leave” after being under constant police surveillance, Noticias SIN reported.

But the young Iowan still does not have his passport, despite conflicting reports from local media Tuesday surrounding Judge Edwin Delgado’s ruling after a heated court proceeding.

Delgado granted Riibe’s request to get police off his back because he has not been charged with wrongdoing, but the judge fell short of ordering that his passport be returned, according to new reports.

Noticias SIN said Riibe’s lawyers are now fighting to get his passport back, including petitioning officials at the US embassy in the Dominican Republic for a new one, Listin Diario said Wednesday.

Riibe’s lawyers, reps for the DR and officials at the US embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the status of the case on Wednesday.

The embassy has said in recent days that it was working to assist Riibe and his family.

Meanwhile, the outlet also reported that the search for Konanki, a pre-med student at the University of Pittsburgh who disappeared during a spring break trip, has been scaled back.

Police said Konanki and Riibe were swimming at the resort’s beach after partying at the hotel bar in the early morning hours of March 6 when they encountered rough surf at the Punta Cana tourist spot.

Riibe told authorities he pulled Konanki to safety, asked if she was okay, then passed out on the beach.

The next day Konanki’s friends reported her missing, launching a massive search that has lasted nearly two weeks and has included local law enforcement personnel as well as representatives from the FBI, US Department of Homeland Security and the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office in the coed’s hometown.

Dominican authorities did not rule out foul play and identified Riibe as a person of interest in the case — seizing his passport and confiscating his phone while keeping him under constant surveillance.

At Tuesday’s court hearing, lawyers for the government claimed he was never a suspect but rather an important witness, and denied he was “in custody” — with Riibe’s lawyers contesting the claim.

The hearing came one day after Konanki’s grieving parents asked Dominican authorities to declare their daughter legally dead and to release Riibe, saying they were convinced she drowned.

“Both sides of the authorities have shown us how high the ocean waves were at the time of the incident, and both sides of the authorities have clarified the person of interest was not a suspect from the beginning,” Subbarayudu Konanki, the missing co-ed’s father, said from the family home in Virginia.

“It is with deep sadness and a heavy heart that we are coming to terms with the fact our daughter has drowned,” he said. “This is incredibly difficult for us to process.”

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