Scarlett murder: NGO demands doctor's suspension

Panaji, Mar 18: Goan NGO ''Utt Goenkara'' has demanded the suspension of Dr Silvano Dias Sapeco, Professor and Head of Forensic Medicine at the Goa Medical College, for alleged ''grave lapses and negligence while conducting the autopsy of British teenager Scarlett Eden Keeling''.

Addressing a press conference here today, NGO spokesman Aires Rodrigues said Dr Sapeco needed to explain as to how his five-hour first post-mortem examination on scarlett'sbody did not reveal the vital details and conclusions which came out during the second autopsy. Mr Rodrigues alleged that in 2003 also Dr Sapeco had messed up a post-mortem of a man, Floriano Diniz, in Quepem taluka by converting a glaring murder into a suicide. Dr Sapeco, then, though suspended for a few days, got away without any inquiry and disciplinary action in the matter. Mr Rodrigues said he had already requested Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and Chief Secretary J P Singh for initiating action against the doctor. He also said the police should investigate the role of Supreme Court advocate Vikram Verma.

Condemning the suspension of police Sub Inspector (PSI) Nerlon Albuquerque, Mr Rodrigues demanded that the government should explain what lapses the PSI had committed in the investigations.

Accusing Tourism Minister Micky Pacheco of trying to settle scores with Albuquerque, Mr Rodrigues said PSI's elder brother Police Inspector Nelson Albuquerque, as in charge of the Colva Police Station, had shown courage by registering a criminal case against the minister.

Mr Rodrigues said the Goa police should question Scarlett's mother Fiona Mackeown on her ''appalling negligence and gross dereliction of duty'' in leaving the 15-year-old girl in Goa while she herself went off on a Karnataka tour.

He said Goa's crumbling infrastructure and filthy beaches were unattractive to decent tourists and the state was being visited only by tourists ''who are more of nuisance value than a boom to the economy.'' He alleged that in connivance with some politicians, the Russian and Israeli mafia had taken roots in the state and were getting stronger by the day.

UNI