Second arrest over Keeling's murder

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian police have arrested a second suspect in connection with the rape and murder of a 15-year-old British girl in Goa last month, but her mother said the investigation was turning out to be a "farce".

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, but were still unsure how she died.

"There is a clear nexus between criminals and officers of the Goa police," Fiona MacKeown, mother of Keeling told Reuters.

Police arrested the second man, Placido Carvalho, late on Wednesday and also suspended the original investigating officer of the case, as media criticism mounted on Goa police.

"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.

"They have arrested two low-level persons and I hope the media and the government of India investigates and gets to the bottom of these really," MacKeown said.

Mackeown has written to the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking his intervention, as she feels the case has weakened, with the police sitting on vital medical tests for weeks to confirm the presence of drugs in Keeling's body.

"I think they are playing a part for these guys to walk out. I think these guys will be released and it will be another farcical case where nobody gets charged for it," she said.