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Home  » News » Has the Scarlette Keeling murder case been cracked?

Has the Scarlette Keeling murder case been cracked?

By Vicky Nanjappa
Last updated on: March 13, 2008 10:41 IST
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The Goa police say British teen Scarlette Keeling was first raped and then died due to a drug overdose. The man in the thick of the action is Placido Carvalho and the police allege that this man had been supplying drugs to Scarlette.

The police have charged Carvalho with supplying drugs to Scarlette. It is said that Carvalho had drugged her before raping her. The police will however have to wait for the reports from the Forensic Sciences Laboratory in Mumbai where the viscera of the deceased have been. The cops will be able to get a better perspective into the case once this report is available.

Carvalho is the second person to be arrested in the case after Samson D'souza. In his anticipatory bail plea application, he had denied even knowing Scarlette and said that he saw her for the first time on February 18, the nigh she died. He said that she had a bottle in her hand and was drinking continuously that night. He also mentioned in his application that he saw her walk in with a man named Murli.

Meanwhile senior police officers in the Goa police say that they will take action against the cops who had been trying to cover up the case. With the police confirming that Carvalho was the man who had been supplying drugs to Scarlette, it is clear that there was a hand of the drug mafia in the case.

This has also given rise to serious doubts as to whether the police had been trying to shield Carvalho only because he was part of the drug mafia. A departmental inquiry will be held into the actions of some of the police officers who have been trying to cover up this case, a senior officer said.

Scarlette's mother, Fiona is however not happy with the progress and feels that bigger names in the case are being shielded. Members close to the family allege that this is a cover up job and the real culprits continue to be shielded. Fiona has sought the intervention of the Prime Minister in the case.

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Vicky Nanjappa