Goa

[Saj]

A couple of friends of mine are going there on holiday soon. They were really looking forward to it until the recent news about the rape and murder of the british teenager, Scarlett Keeling.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/7286841.stm

They've heard stories that behind the palm trees and the beach parties lies a rather sordid gang and drugs culture ?

Anyone with further info ?

 

[shaz4u]

A couple of friends of mine are going there on holiday soon. They were really looking forward to it until the recent news about the rape and murder of the british teenager, Scarlett Keeling.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/7286841.stm

They've heard stories that behind the palm trees and the beach parties lies a rather sordid gang and drugs culture ?

Anyone with further info ?

I think they should not go until they solve these mysteries out

 

[jusarrived]

A couple of friends of mine are going there on holiday soon. They were really looking forward to it until the recent news about the rape and murder of the british teenager, Scarlett Keeling.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/7286841.stm

They've heard stories that behind the palm trees and the beach parties lies a rather sordid gang and drugs culture ?

Anyone with further info ?

I was there just two weeks back & visit the place atleast twice a year....the drug culture has always been there , thse things are bound to happen once in a while .....it will happen in future as well ....but tell your friends not to cancekl the trip , just cos of this news ...you wont find a safer place for foreginers than goa in india....during peak season , you probaably find more firangs than indians here !!

 

[Gabbar Singh]

I don't think your friends should cancel their holiday.

I have been to Goa twice now and sure the drug problem is there for all to see but anyone with an iota of common sense should be fine (i.e. avoid dodgy looking people.areas etc)

What is more worrying though is that the place is now a hot spot for european pedophiles with authorities doing very little to clamp down on this. Just google goa+pedophiles to read some of the horror stats and stories.

 

[Saj]

Goan police are looking for a Briton who could have crucial evidence about the death of a British teenager.
Scarlett Keeling, 15, was found dead on a beach in Anjuna last month. Police said Scarlett had drowned, but a man has now been charged with rape.

Officers want to speak to the potential witness, although it is not known whether he is still in the country.

Earlier it was confirmed Goan authorities would not investigate Scarlett's mother for neglect.

Fiona MacKeown left her daughter in Goa while she travelled to another part of India.

Previously the 43-year-old told BBC News a British man, who may have vital information, had left the area amid fears for his own safety.

"I hope he'll do the right thing and help us," she said.

Ms MacKeown has asked the Indian prime minister to help her find out the truth about her daughter's death.

She was with somebody who was a very caring person who treated her like a niece

Fiona MacKeown

Ms MacKeown, who lives near Bideford in Devon, has now written to Dr Manmohan Singh to ask for his help, saying she has no faith in the local police.

In the letter she said: "I am certain they will try their best to implicate somebody to treat this crime in isolation, while ignoring the larger and more important matter of this criminal nexus.

"My daughter has been murdered and nothing will bring her back to life.

"Your timely intervention now would ensure the tourists coming here and the people of Goa retain their faith in the state and administration."

JP Singh, chief secretary to the government of Goa, said media coverage of the case had overlooked basic facts including that the 15-year-old had been left alone and had a history of drug abuse.

'Wonderful education'

Ms MacKeown left her daughter in the care of a 25-year-old tour guide while she and her six other children went to the neighbouring state of Karnataka.

"She was with somebody who was a very caring person who treated her like a niece.

"He made her go to bed on time and made sure she ate healthy foods and drank orange juice instead of Coca Cola.

"She wasn't left. She regularly joined us down the coast at other beaches we were camping on."

Ms MacKeown also defended the fact Scarlett had not been in school, saying her daughter was receiving a "wonderful education" in the beautiful country of India.

Samson D'Souza, a local 29-year-old man, has been charged with rape but not with Miss Keeling's killing.

He appeared in court on Monday and was remanded in custody for 14 days.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/7291207.stm

 

[Saj]

Police in the Indian state of Goa say they have arrested at least 40 people in an operation against drugs dealers.
Drugs are easily available in Goa, which is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world.

Local police have been heavily criticised for their handling of the death of British teenager Scarlett Keeling last month.

Police say the 15-year-old was drugged, raped and then left for dead on Goa's Anjuna beach.

A British man who saw her shortly before her death, Michael Mannion, is due to give evidence to the police.


So far two men have appeared in court in connection with Scarlett's death.


'Ruthless'

The head of police in Goa, Kishan Kumar, said the drive against drug dealers would be focused on the state's beaches.



I was told then by another local to stay away and not to say anything

Michael Mannion


Scarlett 'witness' tells story


"I will be ruthless, no one can take Goa for granted," he told the Reuters news agency.

"Anybody lurking in the beaches after midnight with suspicious intent will have to face lot of questioning from now on."




Goa's popularity as a tourist resort continues to grow. But the number of foreigners dying there is increasing too.

Official records show that a total of 61 foreign tourists died in Goa last year, one third of them British.

The police say most of these deaths appear to be related to drug use.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7300586.stm

 

[Geordie Ahmed]

Police in the Indian state of Goa say they have arrested at least 40 people in an operation against drugs dealers.
Drugs are easily available in Goa, which is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world.

Local police have been heavily criticised for their handling of the death of British teenager Scarlett Keeling last month.

Police say the 15-year-old was drugged, raped and then left for dead on Goa's Anjuna beach.

A British man who saw her shortly before her death, Michael Mannion, is due to give evidence to the police.


So far two men have appeared in court in connection with Scarlett's death.


'Ruthless'

The head of police in Goa, Kishan Kumar, said the drive against drug dealers would be focused on the state's beaches.



I was told then by another local to stay away and not to say anything

Michael Mannion


Scarlett 'witness' tells story


"I will be ruthless, no one can take Goa for granted," he told the Reuters news agency.

"Anybody lurking in the beaches after midnight with suspicious intent will have to face lot of questioning from now on."




Goa's popularity as a tourist resort continues to grow. But the number of foreigners dying there is increasing too.

Official records show that a total of 61 foreign tourists died in Goa last year, one third of them British.

The police say most of these deaths appear to be related to drug use.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7300586.stm

WHAT THE

 

[Saj]

WHAT THE

yes indeed GA, I was shocked to read that statistic too.

 

[jusarrived]

yes indeed GA, I was shocked to read that statistic too.

not shocking really...there are thousands of foreigners who have been staying in goa for years now & nearly half a million visit every year .

 

[SameerM]

Police in the Indian state of Goa say they have arrested at least 40 people in an operation against drugs dealers.
Drugs are easily available in Goa, which is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world.

There's no point going there now!

 

[Hail-Akram]

There's no point going there now!

Come on Sameer, don't be a CA (Cricket Aus) ...

On a serious note, I've been there before and had no problems. But I'd suggest some cautions.
Are your friends from the subcontinent - i.e. Ind-Pak, BD, SL? If so they are totally safe. If they are whites/europeans then they can be easily identified as foreigners and could face problems.
Again I'd say they should still be safe as long as they dont go looking out for drugs and strictly stick to tourist destinations and mind-their-own-business.
Again- somewhere I read that abt as many as 850 people died in road accidents in Karachi in 2007. But that didn't stop people from using those roads right?

 

[Geordie Ahmed]

Come on Sameer, don't be a CA (Cricket Aus) ...

On a serious note, I've been there before and had no problems. But I'd suggest some cautions.
Are your friends from the subcontinent - i.e. Ind-Pak, BD, SL? If so they are totally safe. If they are whites/europeans then they can be easily identified as foreigners and could face problems.
Again I'd say they should still be safe as long as they dont go looking out for drugs and strictly stick to tourist destinations and mind-their-own-business.
Again- somewhere I read that abt as many as 850 people died in road accidents in Karachi in 2007. But that didn't stop people from using those roads right?

That is a terrible example

 

[161]

yes indeed GA, I was shocked to read that statistic too.

imagine if 61 westerners were killed in pakistan ?

i bet the UK and USA would be getting ready nuke us !!

shows how much the media twists stories.

 

[Raul Madrid]

So Indian police aint as 'hot shot' as their media and their sympathisers and supporters would want you to believe!

At least Pakistanis accept their police are useless.

India not doing so great in the P.R stakes at the moment.

Good to see some of the harsh truths being revealed - and thats going to hit them had in the pocket when tourists think twice before going to safe 'ol india

SO 'India' - quit whining about what Pakistani police do or dont do, just focus on sorting out your own imbeciles

 

[Toony™®]

imagine if 61 westerners were killed in pakistan ?

i bet the UK and USA would be getting ready nuke us !!

shows how much the media twists stories.

61 foriegners died Guys - not killed. Otherwise 1/3 of the brits would be on the news too, if they were all murdered. - however small.

 

[Hail-Akram]

SO 'India' - quit whining about what Pakistani police do or dont do, just focus on sorting out your own imbeciles

So after all this thread is turning out to be another one for scoring points. Why are some people so obsessed with Ind v/s Pakistan comparison !!

And may I point out that 61 foreigners died - they weren't killed. And report says most of them could have died due to drug abuse.

Had somany Brit citizens been "killed", rest assured Britain would not have taken it easy.

 

[Untamed Zombie]

If I were a parent, I wouldn't leave my 15 year old with a stranger I'd just met and move to a different place. Not in the UK, not in the US, not in Australia or anywhere else. That was utter negligence on the part of the parent. Having said that, one can't condone the crime and the culprit must be brought to books but the parent also needs to take at least part of the blame.

Also out of those 61 dead mentioned, how many of them were OD deaths? Goa is as safe as most beach resorts in the world. Westerners travel to Goa, attend rave parties, do drugs, some purchase land, some stay there permanently, some get murdered, some die by themselves..As is the case anywhere else..If you are alert and follow basic safety norms, no one can harm you.

 

[Raul Madrid]

nice to see so much justification for these deaths.

lets hope so much justification, indepth research & analysis is used when discussing pakistani police...

yeah - I doubt it!

 

[Underworld57]

the drug culture is probably due to the goa trance parties/raves and hippies.

 

[Saj]

sense of unease can be felt on India's most famous beach village after news washed up that a teenage British girl was raped and left to die in the sea last month.

Two local men have been arrested in connection with Scarlett Keeling's death in Anjuna in Goa.

Anjuna, famous for its grubby shacks, crescent-shaped beaches, crowded flea markets, drug-fuelled parties and ayurveda spas is in the news again - for all the wrong reasons.

Turnout at the once-a-week 3,000-shop, 38-year-old flea market selling anything from tribal jewellery to thongs has been thin. Shacks selling food and alcohol have fewer guests and revellers. Even the live bands with names like Kundalini Airport and Bindoo Babas have been turning down the volume when night falls.

'Mind altering qualities'


"Scarlett's killing has affected tourism here, for sure. Suddenly things are very quiet," says 61-year-old Manohar Singh, who was born in India, brought up in Zanzibar and holds a British passport.

Anjuna was discovered by hippie travellers in the 1960s, a time when there was "much interest in the mind-altering qualities of India," according to Arun Saldhana, who teaches geography at the University of Minnesota and has written a book on the place.

"It was defined by its psychedelic culture and family-run guest houses, a freak and backpackers hangout, rather than the [many] charter tourist hangouts [of Goa]," he says.



Suddenly things are very quiet in Anjuna

Manohar Singh

The 13-sq km beach village hemmed in by lush hills is where, according to another old-timer, foreign tourists went to "escape India".

Resting in a village in Anjuna during a visit in the mid-1960s, Graham Greene "found it possible to forget the poverty of Bombay (now called Mumbai), 400 miles away, the mutilated beggars, the lepers... "

Anjuna's palm-lined beaches gave birth to a homegrown electronic dance music, called Goa trance, before house and techno music grew roots in the early 1990s.

Distortions

The place was seen by many as a secluded, whites-only haven for hippies, who according to Arun Saldhana, could "freely indulge in drugs, nude sun bathing and all night full moon parties".

The early 1980s were possibly the high point in the beach's chequered history - hippies, punks, artists, Rastafarians, devotees of new-age gurus all hung out here, swapping drugs, music and sexual partners.

The Anjuna subculture saw tourists bending rules and bribing local officials.

Beach shack owner Francis Fernandes remembers the hippies taking over parts of the beaches and putting up 'Indians are not allowed' signs to keep away the locals.


The beach was discovered by hippies in the sixties



"Once some foreigners began a beach rave party on a Good Friday without any permission. We stormed the party and smashed it up," he says. A third of Goa's residents are Catholic Christians.

British novelist Deborah Moggach even spoke about what she called the "touristic caste system" in Anjuna, alluding to the Indian caste system.

"The Brahmins (uppermost in India's caste hierarchy) are the old hippies... They whizz around on old Enfields - how superior people look on motorbikes!" she wrote.

"They have long ropes of hair, washboard stomachs and low slung sarongs... At the lowest rank are package deal tourists".

Rising abuse

Four decades after the foreigners arrived, Anjuna's hippy reputation appears to be backfiring.

Its only hospital, a 20-bed private operation, treats an increasing number of drug overdose cases. Seventeen of the 74 foreigners who have died in Goa in the past two years were in Anjuna, and 11 of them are suspected to be have died of drug abuse.



The crowds have thinned since the murder of UK teenager Scarlett Keeling

"Drug abuse cases have risen here since I came here seven years ago," says Dr Pravin Tippat, who works at the hospital.

Anjuna even has a detox and rehab clinic, run by a NGO, which reports high drug and alcohol abuse in the area.

"We get foreigners every month coming to help for drug abuse. People are taking all kinds of drugs," says Pamela D' Costa, who works there.

Though the police talk about record drug seizures, successfully banning nude sun bathing and cleaning up the place, it has not really been successful.

It is still easy to get drugs.

At the almost completely foreigners-only beach where Scarlett was murdered, women sunbath topless on deckchairs with cows and stray dogs for company.

Victim of success

In the end, Anjuna appears to have become a victim of its own warped success - foreign tourists, scorned by many Goans as "white trash", have lifted living standards of the locals, but material progress has come at a high cost.

Leading Indian designer and Goa resident Wendell Rodricks describes Anjuna as a "dark spot".

"I don't go there. It is a place that is hung over from the 1960s, but sadly with more potent drugs than hashish," he says.

"The government should restore the reputation of the village and the dignity of its residents."

Clearly, the more innocent days of hippie lifestyle - full-moon parties, psychedelic drugs, growing vegetables - which launched Anjuna as a favourite destination are over.

These days, as a British writer said recently, the "place gives me the creeps with its Western-driven drugs culture."

 

[jatt13]

A couple of friends of mine are going there on holiday soon. They were really looking forward to it until the recent news about the rape and murder of the british teenager, Scarlett Keeling.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/7286841.stm

They've heard stories that behind the palm trees and the beach parties lies a rather sordid gang and drugs culture ?

Anyone with further info ?

when are they going...or are they still? i wouldnt mind knowing how it went as im going in may.

 

[Saj]

On Channel 4 tonight at 10 pm there's a program called who killed Scarlett. Correct me if I'm wrong but the killers have still yet to be found?

 

[KingKhanWC]

Two men have been cleared of all charges over the death of 15-year-old Scarlett Keeling on a Goan beach in 2008.

Placido Carvalho, 48, and Samson D'Souza, 37, faced charges of culpable homicide and grievous sexual assault at Goa Children's Court.

The teenager, from Bideford in Devon, was on a six-month "trip of a lifetime" to India with her family when she died.

Her mother Fiona MacKeown said she was "devastated" about the verdict.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-37450330

You have to really feel for the mother, there's no justice in India for women. Why any British women would want to go there is beyond me.

 

[Bengaluru]

Or maybe the men were innocent and justice prevailed?

 

[street cricketer]

Or maybe the men were innocent and justice prevailed?

Oh please, do you seriously believe that. There was an eye witness who saw the accused guys with the girl on that fateful day but later he withdrew from the case.

It's a shameful decision and I'm sure the accused would've been big shots to go away scot free.

 

[Bengaluru]

Oh please, do you seriously believe that. There was an eye witness who saw the accused guys with the girl on that fateful day but later he withdrew from the case.

It's a shameful decision and I'm sure the accused would've been big shots to go away scot free.

Wait what? Being spotted with the victim together in a bar with 100s of other people amounts to murder? Big shots? One was a bar tender and another was unemployed. Why cant you accept the court's decision man?

 

[street cricketer]

Wait what? Being spotted with the victim together in a bar with 100s of other people amounts to murder? Big shots? One was a bar tender and another was unemployed. Why cant you accept the court's decision man?

Being spotted isn't a convincing evidence. But being spotted lying on top of the girl is one.

 

[Suleiman]

Going there this winter.

 

[big_gamer007]

Going there this winter.

It's a good place, you'll have lots of fun.. Try going on New Years time everything would be double or triple the cost but if you like party atmosphere it would be good fun..

 

[Bengaluru]

Being spotted isn't a convincing evidence. But being spotted lying on top of the girl is one.

Spotted laying on top of the dead bird by the British man (Masala Mike) who wouldn't testify? Therefore the men must be guilty? Or, god forbid, she died drowning as per the original post mortem under the influence of cocaine? These men are guilty because little street cricketer from the forums says so? Any idea how the legal system works? Go away and find something else to comment on.

 

[PakLFC]

Goa looks good with those white beaches and blue water. Vey exotic, always get the impression that it's still under Portuguese occupation though. The little island has been illegally occupied by India. Now the Indian's here will gang up on me

 

[street cricketer]

Goa looks good with those white beaches and blue water. Vey exotic, always get the impression that it's still under Portuguese occupation though. The little island has been illegally occupied by India. Now the Indian's here will gang up on me

Won't gang up on you.

Just correcting you that Goa isn't an island.

 

[street cricketer]

Spotted laying on top of the dead bird by the British man (Masala Mike) who wouldn't testify? Therefore the men must be guilty? Or, god forbid, she died drowning as per the original post mortem under the influence of cocaine? These men are guilty because little street cricketer from the forums says so? Any idea how the legal system works? Go away and find something else to comment on.

Err..You don't get bruises on your body under the influence of cocaine.

Lmao it's not just me, all the readers of even the TOI are lamenting the decision and that's saying something.

 

[PakLFC]

Won't gang up on you.

Just correcting you that Goa isn't an island.

Have you seen the film "Shaan"?. I thought the villain Shakaal's hideout was in Goa!!!!

 

[Abdullah719]

This is the man suspected of raping and killing a Liverpool student in India

This is the man accused of raping and murdering a Liverpool student whose body was found near a popular Indian beach.

Police in Goa say suspect Vikat Bhagat ‘confessed to raping the victim and later killing her in order to hide his identity’, according to Indian news sources.

Bhagat has reportedly appeared in court today after Danielle McLaughlin, 28, was found in a field yesterday morning by a farmer three miles from Palolem Beach.

Danielle, who worked at the Pump House pub, Albert Dock, and studied at John Moores University, had reportedly travelled to Goa to celebrate Holi festival and was allegedly seen with the defendant just hours before her body was found.

Police Inspector Uttam Raut Dessie: “Danielle and her friend, Megan, flew from Gatwick on February 22 and landed in Goa airport on Feburary 23.

“On March 13 she met Vikat Bhagat, a 23-year-old who was known to police because of his troubled childhood.

“He was a notorious person who had been arrested many times before.”

Inspector Dessie says that Danielle was seen with Bhagat in Canacona on Monday at about 9.30pm.

He added that a local called Prashant Komarpant found her body the following and called police at 8.20am, police say she had been ‘raped and killed’.

Inspector Dessie said: “We identified her body because of the tattoo and after interviewing many suspects we arrested Vikat on March 14 at 15.10.

“Vikat has an Activa scooter with red stains that we believe to be blood.”

Danielle was found several miles from a beach where she attended a party the night before.

Today tributes were paid to the 28-year-old who studied at Liverpool John Moores University .

A spokesman said: “The University is shocked and saddened to hear of the death of one of our former students, Danielle McLaughlin.

“We send our sincere condolences to her family and friends from all at LJMU.”

Staff at the Pump House said Danielle, who was travelling with a British passport but was originally from Ireland, was “so full of life” and worked behind the bar but “left a couple of years ago to go travelling”.

Pump House manager Tracy Leigh told the ECHO: “She was a lovely young girl and so full of life. All the staff are desperately sorry and send their condolences to her family.

“It is a shocking incident - she was so young.”

It is thought Danielle had been living in Liverpool but moved back home to Buncrana, Co Donegal, Ireland, after her grandfather died.

Her family and friends were left devastated after being told of her death - and described her as adventurous, sweet and beautiful.

One friend wrote: “Can’t even say RIP to me old friend Danielle McLaughlin cause she was more of a believer in reincarnation... in having another spin round and no time for resting.

“So wherever ya are now Dani know that a lot of people are heartbroken today and the world is that wee bit sadder today having lost someone who added so much happiness to it.”

Rena Donaghey, a Buncrana councillor who knows Ms McLaughlin’s mother and family, described their grief as unthinkable.

She said: “This has come as a great shock. A young girl, an independent woman, heading off to do what young girls and fellas do these days.

“It is unthinkable what happened to her. And for her mother, being so far away from home, it makes it all the more difficult.

“All our thoughts and prayers are with the family, that they can get through this difficult time.”

Ms Donaghey said Ms McLaughlin had been studying and living in Liverpool before travelling for a time in Australia.

She was in her home town of Buncrana before setting off to India last month.

The Times of India reported that police are looking for three more people in connection with the murder.

A post-mortem examination is due to take place today.

Detectives are also studying CCTV footage from all the shacks the victim visited on Monday night, and are working with teams of sniffer dogs and forensic teams.

The police are yet to locate the murder weapon.

A spokesman for Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “We are supporting the family of a British-Irish woman following her death in Goa, India.

“Our thoughts are with them at this very difficult time. Indian police are conducting an investigation and we are in close contact with them.”

Residents of the coastal resort where Danielle’s body was found say they are planning a vigil for tonight.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/man-suspected-raping-killing-liverpool-12747282

 

[Zaib_Mirza]

28-Year-Old Irish Woman Who Was Raped In Goa Was Murdered With A Beer Bottle

A 28-year-old Irish woman, Danielle McLaughlin, was found murdered on Tuesday at an isolated spot on a beach in South Goa's Devabag village, 80 km from Panaji.
She had come to Goa on February 23 and was last seen playing Holi with locals in Canacona on Monday.
Her body was found in a naked state. A case has been filed under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (murder)," said deputy superintendent Sammy Tavares.
While her body was sent for a post-mortem at Goa Medical College and Hospital to determine whether she had been raped or not, a local criminal, Vikas Bhagat was arrested in connection with the case.
Hindustan Times reports that Bhagat confessed his crime and added that he raped her and later smashed her face with a beer bottle so as to hide her identity.
BBC reports that Mclaughlin had a dual Irish and British citizenship and had lived in Liverpool.
The Irish foreign ministry released a statement saying that its embassy in India was "following up on the suspected murder of an Irish woman in Goa."
"It has been confirmed that the woman travelled to India using a British passport, so the local British consulate has the lead responsibility in terms of dealing with the Indian authorities.
"The Irish embassy is liaising closely with the British authorities and an Irish consular official is travelling from New Delhi to Goa on Wednesday," the statement added.
McLaughlin's mother Andrea Brannigan said the family were "finding it very difficult at this trying time".
Danielle was the eldest of her five sisters.
https://www.scoopwhoop.com/28yearol...a-was-murdered-with-a-beer-bottle/#.5wktcirjh

 

[Gabbar Singh]

The case mentioned in the original post...

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Scarlett Keeling's rapist and murderer has been convicted by Bombay HC today. Here's how the British teen's tragedy unfolded in Goa, 11 years ago.<a href="https://t.co/zWBPMtuRk4">https://t.co/zWBPMtuRk4</a></p>— The Quint (@TheQuint) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheQuint/status/1151474901930266630?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">17 July 2019</a></blockquote>
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