Scarlett Keeling case: Mother welcomes CBI appeal to Bombay HC

Panaji, Feb 7 (IANS) UK-based Fiona Mackeown, whose daughter Scarlett Keeling was found dead on Goa's Anjuna beach in 2008, on Tuesday welcomed the CBI's decision to move the Bombay High Court against the acquittal of two beach shack workers in the case.

Vikram Varma, legal counsel for Fiona Mackeown, however, said that the unwillingness of the Central Bureau of Investigation's officials to pursue the drug peddling angle in the sensational 2008 sexual assault and culpable homicide case, had raised doubts about the role of the investigation agency.

"She (Mackeown) has said that she cannot understand when there is so much evidence of narcotics, like traces on the beach and in the bar, where it was being sold, why did the investigation officers not take action under the NDPS (Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act," Varma said.

He added that Mackeown articulated her concerns about the CBI probe in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, soon after a local trial court acquitted two beach workers Samson D'Souza and Placido Carvalho in September last year.

The CBI moved the Bombay High Court bench in Panaji on February 3 against the Goa children's court order acquittal of the accused.

Welcoming the decision, Varma said that "adequate energy is put in the appeal to bring fact on record".

"What one wants to see is a state of affairs where women can walk without fear and criminals fear law. As of now it is the reverse," he said.

Scarlett's barely clothed body was found at Anjuna beach in February 2008.

While the police initially tried to pass off the incident as a suicide, a second autopsy revealed 52 injury marks on her body as well as traces of a cocktail of drugs in her system.

A CBI probe was ordered in the case by the state government.

(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)