'No letter from Scarlett's mother to PM'

New Delhi, Mar 13: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has not received any letter from the mother of British schoolgirl, Scarlett Keeling who was allegedly murdered in Goa in February, for a CBI inquiry, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Pachauri told the House during Zero Hour that the Prime Minister came to know that such a letter had been written to him only through newspaper reports. However, he had not received any such letter. The matter was raised by BJP member Sushma Swaraj who said such incidents of attacks on foreign tourists brought a bad name to the country.

She said if the victim's mother had demanded a CBI inqiuiry the government should not have any objection.

Mr Pachauri described the incident as ''very unfortunate'' and ''condemnable'' and said the government would take strong action against the culprits.

He, however, did not make any commitment on the CBI inquiry.

UNI