Police in India arrested a 28-year-old local man in connection with the rape and murder of British teenager Scarlett Keeling.
Inspector Kishan Kumar from Goa Police said local man Samson D'Souza was detained after witnesses came forward alleging they saw him raping the 15-year-old from Devon on the beach at the resort of Anjuna in Goa on February 18.
"This man was seen with the girl near to where her dead body was found. It was evidently clear this man was raping her," he said. "We have sufficient evidence to show this man was having sex with the girl in the early hours of February 18. We have established that he was raping her."
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The police official added that Indian officers were now working on a murder investigation. "This part of the investigation is still going on," he said.
The latest development comes after a second post-mortem examination carried out on Scarlett's body after pressure from her mother Fiona MacKeown.
Ms MacKeown, from Bideford, has spent the weeks since her death demanding an investigation and claiming that her daughter, who had 50 marks on her body, was murdered.
Initially Indian police said the death was an accidental drowning but have now launched a murder investigation because the second post-mortem results showed she had been attacked.
The results also found she did not have enough water in her lungs to have drowned.
Other reports have said that three men are being questioned as part of the investigation.
Police official Bosko George said the men were detained but have not been arrested or charged with any crime.
Ms MacKeown was on a six-month holiday with her boyfriend, Scarlett and six other children in India when her daughter was attacked. The group had flown from Britain in November.
Ms MacKeown managed to find clothing from her daughter on the beach and had also taken witness statements in an attempt to find out what happened.
"It was our main objective to get the police or somebody to admit that she'd been murdered as I knew in my heart that she had been," Ms MacKeown told the BBC.
"I am convinced that they (the Indian police) were covering it up. She was a lovely girl, a really affectionate, loving girl."
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