Police investigating the murder of Scarlett Keeling, the Devon teenager raped and murdered in Goa earlier this year, have asked for the case to be transferred to India's top federal detective agency.

Local police initially said Scarlett's death was an accidental drowning. But a murder investigation was launched after a second post-mortem examination - carried out following pressure from Scarlett's mother, Fiona MacKeown - showed she had been attacked.

Mrs MacKeown has criticised the police handling of the case and has herself pushed for the case to be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation. A senior police officer said that the CBI had been asked to take on the case to prove the local Goan police had nothing to hide.

Meanwhile, Mrs MacKeown accompanied Scarlett's body back to the UK this week and said she wants to bury Scarlett on her land near Bideford, North Devon.

A third post-mortem examination of the teenager's body is due to be held in Devon on behalf of the coroner to establish the cause of death.

Devon and Cornwall Police have said they are not opening a criminal investigation into Scarlett's death.

The article Federal Police to take on Scarlett case originally appeared on 999 Westcountry