Two charged over girl's death in Goa

Two men suspected of involvement in the death of the British teenager Scarlett Keeling in Goa last year have been charged.

India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed charges against Samson D'Souza and Placido Carvalho of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, assault with intent to outrage a woman's modesty and administering a stupefying drug with intent to harm. They were also charged with destruction of evidence.

Police had arrested Mr D'Souza, 28, a barman, and Mr Carvalho, who is in his thirties, on suspicion of drugging and raping Ms Keeling, 15, and leaving her to die on Anjuna beach in Goa. She and her family, from Bideford, Devon, were in India on holiday.

Her body was found on the beach on 18 February last year.

Vikram Varma, lawyer for her mother, Fiona MacKeown, said: "From what I heard, the charges have been filed in the children's court in Goa and the CBI has diluted it as much as possible. "The five to six people involved in the incident have been reduced to just two and the quality is not what was expected."

Statements of those who saw Ms Keeling with the suspects on the day she died, police officers and the doctor who examined her body, along with statements from Ms MacKeown, are included in the filing.

CBI officials were given the case after accusations that police in Goa were trying to cover up the affair.

The accused appeared in court to be charged and were released on bail.