Dead girl's mother appeals to India PM

(CNN) -- The mother of a 15-year-old British girl found dead on a beach in Goa has urged the Indian prime minister to investigate claims that police tried to cover up the fact she had been raped and murdered.

Police initially said Scarlett Keeling drowned after drinking too much, and her semi-naked body was found on a beach at the resort of Anjuna in the southwest Indian state on February 18.

Scarlett's mother, Fiona MacKeown, has been outspoken about the police handling of the case, saying she believes police have covered up evidence and bungled the investigation.

MacKeown disputed that, saying witnesses found Scarlett's body on the beach covered in bruises, which suggested murder. MacKeown, from Devon in southwestern England, said she had pictures of her daughter's body from the autopsy that clearly show bruises all over.

Her lawyer, Vikram Varma, said at a police station in Anjuna on Wednesday he would be meeting the chief secretary of Goa to hand him a copy of their concerns on the cover-up issue. He would also send a copy to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the UK's Press Association reported.

Varma said MacKeown wanted to know why Scarlett's killing was reported as a drowning case. Watch an explanation of how the police changed their focus in the case »

Meanwhile Indian police said they were seeking a British man who might have seen Keeling on the night she was killed.

Inspector General Kishan Kumar said Wednesday the man was with a group of people who reported seeing her drunk at a beachfront restaurant-bar. Scarlett was found dead later that night.

Kumar did not name the man, who he believes is still in India. Kumar said the man was not a witness to Scarlett's death.

Police have already interviewed other members of the group the man was with, Kumar said.

No one has been charged in the teenager's death, though Kumar said he expected charges "shortly."

A man who worked as a bartender along the beach is in custody in the case. Kumar has said police have evidence proving Samson D'Souza, 29, raped Scarlett and that police are now trying to link him to her death.

Scarlett had been on an extended vacation with her family in Goa but was living with a male friend and his aunts while the rest of her family traveled to an adjoining Indian state.

MacKeown said police planned to question her about negligence for leaving her daughter in Goa, though she denied she had done anything wrong.

"The people I left her with I trusted, and they behaved responsibly," she told the British news network ITN. "I had no reason to think that they wouldn't be responsible."

The mother said she knew the man and his family "quite well" and they treated Scarlett like a part of the family, though she said Scarlett and the man eventually started a sexual relationship.

MacKeown told ITN she did not believe the police investigation should end with D'Souza.

"He may have been involved (in Scarlett's death), but I don't think he was the only man," she said. "She was seen with more than one man that night. I think it would take more than one man to do that to her."

The case has thrown the spotlight on Goa, popular for its white sandy beaches and laidback, hippy scene. E-mail to a friend

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