Seeks Modi’s intervention claiming it to be murder and not drowning; Advocate Varma queries why CBI did not take action on people selling and storing drugs
PANJIM: Fiona MacKeown, mother of British teenager Scarlett Keeling, on Thursday approached Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention in the death of her daughter seeking justice claiming it to be murder and not drowning.
Last week the Goa Children’s Court had acquitted two locals who were charged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for drugging, sexually abusing and leaving Scarlett to die on Anjuna beach in 2008.
In her petition MacKeown has prayed that the persons responsible for the murder of her daughter be prosecuted after they have been identified. She has also stated that the people who have destroyed evidence related to the crime be prosecuted.
“The local fishermen informed me she was murdered by a drug mafia in Goa, but as this drug mafia had strong connections with the local police and the politicians, it would be pointless for me to approach the criminal justice system,” MacKeown said in the petition.
Her lawyer Vikram Varma said that evidence had been destroyed within 20 days of the death before Anjuna Police registered the case. He said witnesses have confirmed to CBI that a large quantity of cocaine was stored and sold at the Louis shack where Sacrlett was last seen.
“Why has CBI not taken any action on the people who were selling and storing the drugs? The narcotics angle which was openly revealed in the course of investigation of CBI was not considered and properly probed,” Varma said.
He said that if CBI did not have the mandate to probe the NDPS angle then they should have informed the appropriate authority to initiate action. It was not done by the investigating agency, he added. “Where there is political power to protect the drug lobby they will limit the mandate of the investigation,” Varma said.
He alleged that CBI was given a mandate to only probe the murder angle purely because of the political interference.
MacKeown, in her petition to the PMO, said that Nerlon Albuquerque, then Police Sub Inspector of Anjuna Police Station, tried his best to shield the criminals and also tried to convince her with lies that her daughter was a victim of accidental drowning.
Herald Goa News
PANJIM: Fiona MacKeown, mother of British teenager Scarlett Keeling, on Thursday approached Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention in the death of her daughter seeking justice claiming it to be murder and not drowning.
Last week the Goa Children’s Court had acquitted two locals who were charged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for drugging, sexually abusing and leaving Scarlett to die on Anjuna beach in 2008.
In her petition MacKeown has prayed that the persons responsible for the murder of her daughter be prosecuted after they have been identified. She has also stated that the people who have destroyed evidence related to the crime be prosecuted.
“The local fishermen informed me she was murdered by a drug mafia in Goa, but as this drug mafia had strong connections with the local police and the politicians, it would be pointless for me to approach the criminal justice system,” MacKeown said in the petition.
Her lawyer Vikram Varma said that evidence had been destroyed within 20 days of the death before Anjuna Police registered the case. He said witnesses have confirmed to CBI that a large quantity of cocaine was stored and sold at the Louis shack where Sacrlett was last seen.
“Why has CBI not taken any action on the people who were selling and storing the drugs? The narcotics angle which was openly revealed in the course of investigation of CBI was not considered and properly probed,” Varma said.
He said that if CBI did not have the mandate to probe the NDPS angle then they should have informed the appropriate authority to initiate action. It was not done by the investigating agency, he added. “Where there is political power to protect the drug lobby they will limit the mandate of the investigation,” Varma said.
He alleged that CBI was given a mandate to only probe the murder angle purely because of the political interference.
MacKeown, in her petition to the PMO, said that Nerlon Albuquerque, then Police Sub Inspector of Anjuna Police Station, tried his best to shield the criminals and also tried to convince her with lies that her daughter was a victim of accidental drowning.
Herald Goa News
Scarlett's case is just one of many – there are also the stories of Denyse Sweeney, Stephen Bennett, Andy Rodick, Felix Dahl, Caitanya Holt and others (“Men accused of killing British teen Scarlett Keeling acquitted, mother says she will appeal decision”). None of the cases were ever investigated fully and some are still in trial. We, the families of the victims keep fighting for justice for our lost loved ones in Goa. Every season there are more such cases, which the authorities in Goa seem to ignore completely. If the case makes it to the court the guilty are acquitted. There is no justice in Goa for anyone.
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