Panaji, March 24 (IANS) police in Goa are on the back foot after a fresh forensic report on Scarlette Keeling’s murder contradicted their claims that the British teenager died of a drug overdose.
The new report has no legal standing, said Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kishen Kumar Monday of the third report on Scarlette’s death submitted Friday.
Silvano Sapeco, who had conducted the first autopsy on Scarlette, submitted the fresh report reiterating that the 15-year-old’s death was due to drowning.
Scarlette’s head was forcibly held under water for over 10 minutes by her murderers and the bruises on her body suggest a struggle, said the new report.
It said the cocktail of drugs and alcohol found in her body was “not enough to cause coma or death”.
Sapeco’s first autopsy, which he conducted soon after Scarlette was found dead, had not mentioned anything about the drugs in her blood.
The IGP held that the doctor’s new insights were invalid.
Kumar told IANS: “Only when a forensic expert keeps the cause of death reserved can he give new insights into it.”
Scarlette’s body was found on Goa’s Anjuna Beach Feb 18. The police initially said she had drowned but a doughty campaign by her mother Fiona Mackeown forced the police to order a second autopsy, after which it said she was given a heavy dose of drugs and raped.
Two suspects – Samson D’Souza and Placido Carvalho – have been arrested in connection with the murder and rape. They were bartenders at the beach shack near which Scarlette’s body was found.
Meanwhile, the three member forensic experts’ panel headed by E.J. Rodrigues that conducted the second autopsy on Scarlette are also unhappy with the police.
The members have written to the state’s Chief Secretary J.P. Singh, Superintendent of Police Bosco George and Sub-Divisional Magistrate M.V. Khorjuenkar alleging lack of cooperation from the police.
Following the submission of the new report by Sapeco, MacKeown has now decided to approach the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court.
She will seek an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the murder of her teenage daughter and will also seek police protection for herself as she feels she is under threat, her lawyer Vikram Verma said.