Fiona seeks assurance from cops against arrest

Fiona seeks assurance from cops against arrest
Preetu Nair , TNN

PANAJI: With the Goa Children's Court refusing the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) request to issue a letter rogatory (LR), which is required to record the statement of Fiona Mackeown, mother of British teenager Scarlet Eden Keeling, in her home in UK, she is now contemplating coming to India to meet the CBI. However, she wants an assurance from the Goa police that she would not be arrested on her arrival in India.

"I am trying to find a way to speak to the CBI and have been emailing them but they have not answered yet," said Fiona in an email from her home in Devon, UK. Fully aware that the court's decision comes as a setback to the CBI, which is struggling to record Fiona's statement, which is crucial in investigating the death of Scarlett at Anjuna beach on February 18, 2008, Fiona is willing to take the risk. The central investigating agency had moved the application in the Goa Children's Court seeking permission to issue the letter, which would have roped in the Interpol in London to take Fiona's statement.

"I do think the Goa police could arrest me or take my passport to stop me leaving until they finished investigations and I would need some reassurance that this would not happen before I would fly to Mumbai to talk to the CBI," she said. The Goa police is inquiring into a complaint of neglect and failure to provide her daughter a safe environment, which ultimately led to the alleged rape and murder of the minor.

Fiona's counsel Vikram Varma said, "I will ask her to come to India as she wants to assist the CBI as well as the Goa police in its inquiry. But she needs to be assured in writing that the Goa police will not harass her and she will be able to return back to her country to look after her children."

He added, "It is too often in this country that complainants and witnesses are harassed to a point where they don't pursue the case to the advantage of the accused. I hope we can reverse such a probability in this matter."

Meanwhile, as the case drags on and Fiona's trip to India has been delayed, Scarlett awaits a decent burial, even after a year of her death. Infact, the organs have not even reached UK. "The organs are supposed to be collected by an undertaker from Mumbai. But there will be no burial until the investigations in India are over," she added.

17 Mar 2009, The Times of India, Goa edition