HC dismisses CBI plea for letter rogatory in Scarlett case

The Goa bench of the Bombay High Court today dismissed a plea of the Central Bureau of Investigation to give a letter rogatory to interrogate Fiona Mackeown, mother of British teenager Scarlett Eden Keeling, and another British witness.

The CBI, after failing to get the letter rogatory through the Goa Children's Court, had approached the high court with the request.

But the request was turned down by a bench comprising justice BP Dharmadhikari and justice UD Salvi.

The bench, however, gave the CBI three months more to investigate the case which was first reported in February 2008.

Scarlett's bruised and semi-naked body was found at the Anjuna beach. Two locals were arrested for allegedly drugging and raping the teenager, who was then just 15, and leaving her to die on the shore.

After initial investigations by the local police, the case was handed over to the CBI.

The CBI first approached the children's court with the plea for a letter rogatory, which would have enabled it to interrogate Mackeown and Charles Carter, another witness in the case.

But Desmond D'Costa, president of the children's court, rejected the request, saying the questionnaire proposed to be put to the witnesses had almost been answered by them in statements recorded while the case was still with the Goa Police.

The CBI, under section 166(A) of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, had urged the children's court to issue the letter rogatory for judicial assistance to conduct further investigation and collect evidence in the United Kingdom.