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Police arrested a man on charges that he raped a 15-year-old British girl
Samsung D'Souza, 29, was arrested Sunday night and accused of raping Scarlett Keeling hours before her partially clothed and bruised body was found the morning Feb. 18, senior police official Bosco George said. D'Souza has not been charged in Keeling's death, though one official said that he could face additional charges later. Keeling had been seen at around 4 a.m. at a bar with a group of Indian men, one of whom was identified as D'Souza. An eyewitness told police he saw the suspect in a "compromising position" with Keeling, police official Kishen Kumar told reporters.
Even if the sex was consensual, police said D'Souza would still be accused of rape because Keeling was a minor. D'Souza was one of three men police held for questioning Sunday and officials say they expected to make more arrests soon. "The same person we charged for rape can be charged for murder," Kumar told CNN-IBN, a private television news channel.
"He was the last person seen in a compromising position with the girl." Keeling's body was found on Anjuna beach in Goa, a tiny state with a coastline crowded with tourists and resorts. Police initially believed she accidentally drowned because she was drunk, but her family accused the police of a cover-up and pushed for a second autopsy and further investigation. "It was our main objective to get the police or somebody to acknowledge that she'd been murdered, as I knew in my heart that she had been," Fiona MacKeown, Keeling's mother, told British Broadcasting Corp. television. "I'm convinced that they were covering it up." The family also believes that Keeling may have been sexually assaulted. George said he would conduct an internal inquiry into the investigation.
The second autopsy also showed that she had drowned, officials said, but doctors identified more bruises on her back, shins and feet, prompting police to investigate the death as a murder.
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