Panjim, Sep 23 (Agencies) : A Goa court acquitted on Friday two men accused of raping and killing British schoolgirl Scarlett Keeling in 2008, triggering outrage in a case that put a global spotlight on the dark underbelly of India’s tourism industry.
“I find them not guilty of all charges,” Judge Vandana Tendulkar said after the trial of Samson D’Souza and Placido Carvalho in the state capital Panaji.
Fifteen-year-old Keeling’s bruised and half-naked body was found on popular Anjuna beach eight years ago. Her death made headlines worldwide and triggered a debate on how unsafe the popular tourist destination was for foreigners, especially women.
Police initially dismissed the teenager’s death as an accident but opened a murder probe after Keeling’s mother, Fiona MacKeown, pushed for a second autopsy, which proved she had been drugged and raped.
MacKeown also accused local authorities of trying to cover up the death to protect drug gangs operating in Goa.
“I’m devasatated,” Mackeown told news channel NDTV amid criticism about the sluggish pace of the case
Several weeks after the attack, local men D’Souza and Carvalho were arrested.