Pair quizzed over Goa girl murder

Detectives are continuing to question two men who were arrested over the rape and murder of British teenager Scarlett Keeling in Goa, India.

Placido Carvalho, who appeared in court on Thursday, is being investigated over the drugging, rape and murder of Miss Keeling, but has not been charged.

He was remanded in custody for 14 days to give police more time to quiz him.

Police now believe Miss Keeling, 15, from Devon, was drugged and raped before being left for dead on a beach.

Mr Carvalho was detained on Wednesday after giving himself up voluntarily, two days after another man, Samson D'Souza, 28, was charged with raping Miss Keeling.

Mr D'Souza appeared in court in Mapusa, Goa, on Monday and was remanded into custody for 14 days.

The two arrests came after police had said initially that Miss Keeling drowned.

Miss Keeling's mother, Fiona MacKeown, has criticised the police handling of the case, which she says remains unsolved, despite the two arrests.

Her lawyer, Vikram Varma, said on Thursday that he expected further arrests in connection with the rape and murder, on a beach in Anjuna three weeks ago.

The inspector general of police in Goa, Kishan Kumar, denied any cover-up over the cause of death, but said one of his officers had been suspended and an inquiry was under way into his actions in the case.

Ms MacKeown is waiting for a response from India's prime minister to her claims there was a police cover-up.

In a letter to Manmohan Singh, Ms MacKeown said: "I have no faith in the leadership of the Goa police.

"The administration tried its best to hush up the death as a simple case of drowning."

Mr Kumar said once the police investigation had come to a conclusion about the rape and murder "we will look into other aspects".

That could include the possible neglect of the teenager, said Mr Kumar, after Ms MacKeown had left her daughter at the resort with a friend while the rest of the family travelled further afield.

In a separate development, another British woman accused police in Goa of covering up the death of her boyfriend, whose body was also found in February on a beach close to Anjuna.

Officers also initially concluded Martin Neighbour had drowned.

However, Rosalind Sheherlis, from London, said she believed her partner Mr Neighbour was murdered in a dispute over card game winnings.