India police arrest 2nd man over UK tourist murder

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian police have arrested a second suspect in the rape and murder of a 15-year-old British girl found dead last month on a beach in Goa.

Indian authorities originally said that Scarlett Keeling appeared to have drowned after taking drugs. Later they said a second autopsy revealed injuries that indicated murder.

Placido Carvalho was arrested late on Wednesday.

"He has been arrested. He was one of the accomplices in the rape and murder and we are investigating his role," Bosco Jorge, a senior police officer, told Reuters from Goa.

Carvalho is the second person to have been arrested in the case. Samson D'Souza, reported to be a barman in a beach shack, was arrested earlier this week, suspected of rape.

Keeling's mother, Fiona MacKeown, had always maintained her daughter was drugged, raped and murdered, and has accused the police of covering up the real circumstances of her death. The autopsy revealed bruises all over Keeling's body, that her mouth was stuffed with sand and she did not have enough saltwater in her lungs to indicate drowning.

Indian media said there may have been an initial attempt to play down the death to protect the state's tourism industry.

Keeling's case is the latest to highlight the safety of tourists in India. Tourism officials met this year to discuss attacks on tourists after at least seven foreign women and girls said they had been raped or molested.

(Reporting by Alistair Scrutton; Editing by Alex Richardson)