New autopsy indicates British girl murdered in Goa

NEW DELHI, March 9 (Reuters) - Indian authorities said on Sunday they were treating the death of a British girl as murder after a second autopsy revealed injuries that officials said were homicidal in nature.

Police found Scarlet Keeling, a 15-year-old British tourist dead last month on a deserted beach in the coastal state of Goa. Police initially said she had possibly drowned after taking drugs.

But a second autopsy conducted last week revealed injuries, inflicted by a sharp weapon, which forensic experts believe had actually caused her death, police said.

"The second autopsy has revealed many injury marks, and based on it we have started a case of murder and are now looking for suspects," Jorge Bosco, a senior police official said from Goa.

Police say Keeling could have been raped before she was killed, and were detaining drug addicts for questioning.

"We will take one step at a time and arrests could follow soon," Bosco told Reuters by phone.

Keeling's case is the latest to highlight the safety of tourists in India. Tourism officials met this year to discuss attacks on tourists after at least seven foreign women and girls said they had been raped or molested.

Keeling's parents have maintained that their daughter was raped and murdered. (Reporting by Bappa Majumdar)