Escalating Tensions--India and Pakistan

Tensions continue to soar on both sides of the border amid reports of troop movements. Both countries are apprehensive and wary towards each other. India has taken strides to garner support for its cause--its most recent ally being Saudi Arabia. Pakistan under tremendous international pressure is being pushed to act against the extremist groups operating within the country. The Indians still feel that Pakistan isn't doing quite enough. They have accused Pakistan of promoting War Hysteria in a bid to divert attention. Pakistan, meanwhile has accused India of attacking its sovereignty. Their premiers have made numerous statements to the same declaring how the country stands united against any external aggression.

The apparent boiling tensions simply cannot be disregarded by the international community for quite obvious reasons.

In Memory of Mumbai 26/11

Let those who perished be remembered eternally.

"An American Crime" II

On October 26, 1965, Indianapolis police answered a call saying that a girl had died. The call came from a pay telephone in front of a Shell station in a poor section of the city. The caller was a teenaged boy whose voice had not finished changing into that of an adult man. He sounded very nervous and directed the police to the address, 3850 East New York Street, at which they would find the dead female.

When the cops got to the dingy, rundown, clapboard home to which the anonymous caller had directed them, they found the emaciated dead body of 16-year-old Sylvia Marie Likens. She was covered with bruises and small wounds, later revealed to be cigarette and match burns that numbered over 100. There were also large areas where the outer layer of skin had peeled off. Likens also had a large letter "3" branded on her chest.

However, the most remarkable injuries, by far, were the words in block letters that had been burned directly onto her stomach: "I'M A PROSTITUTE AND PROUD OF IT!"

The Room where Sylvia's body was found.

Thus ended one of the most horrible crimes ever committed against a single victim.

source: trutv.com

"An American Crime" -- The tragic life of Sylvia Marie Likens

Sylvia
R.I.P

Sylvia Marie Likens (January 3, 1949 - October 26, 1965) was an American murder victim from Indiana. She was tortured to death by Gertrude Baniszewski (née Van Fossan), Gertrude's children, and other young people from their neighborhood. Her parents, carnival workers, had left Likens and her sister Jenny in the care of the Baniszewski family three months before her death in exchange for twenty dollars a week. Baniszewski, two of her children, Paula and John, and two neighbor youths, Coy Hubbard and Richard Hobbs, were charged and convicted of the crime. Her torture and murder were described by the prosecutor in Baniszewski's trial as "the most terrible crime ever committed in the state of Indiana."

Orissa--Religious Politics

The chief minister of Orissa must step up to restore normality in the wake of the grim series of events in his state. What is happening there is quite frankly disgraceful. All communities must come together to strongly resist the grotesque decadence prevalent in Orissa; to save secular India from ravenous communal forces.

With the violence against Christians in Orissa creating widespread condemnation across the country, a prominent religious leader said on Friday that the attacks on the minority community were "very similar" to the 2002 Gujarat riots.


"The killing of Swami Laxmanananda is being used as an excuse to target minorities in Orissa like the Godhra incident was used in Gujarat to fan the communal cauldron," Swami Agnivesh, President, World Council of Arya Samaj, told reporters in New Delhi.


The killing should be properly investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) so that the real culprits are apprehended, he added.


"The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrag Dal are getting tacit support from the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) which is part of the ruling coalition in the state to instigate violence in the state," he alleged.


A fact-finding team of Swami Agnivesh, Shabnam Hashmi and Vimal Thorat recently visited the state to enquire about recent violence in Kandhamal.


"To some extend, the repeat 2002 Gujarat riots are taking place in Orissa. With the same preparedness and planning," claimed social activist Shabnam Hashmi.


"We heard reports there that the attackers had lists with them while targeting the victims," she alleged.


"It is very surprising that while we were not allowed to go into area, but were asked to wait till September fourth. VHP leader Pravin Togadia was allowed into the region with full police protection," Agnivesh said.


"What is more strange is that the Union Home Minister for State Sri Prakash Jaiswal was turned back as state refused to give him any security to the troubled area," he added.

source: NDTV

The BMW case--A Background

Sanjeev Nanda, the main accused in the case (born 1978) is the grandson of an ex-Chief of Naval Staff-turned businessman from New Delhi who is the prime accused to have run over and killed six people, including three policemen, in a drunken state when he drove his BMW car at high speed through a police checkpoint. The incident occurred at 4:50 AM early morning of January 10, 1999. After running through the policemen, he allegedly stopped the car to check the damage, saw people under the car, and according to the prosecution, at this point co-passenger Manik Kapoor said: ‘‘Let’s go,’’ and they quickly drove away. The car was later cleaned up by servants at a friend's house.


Sanjeev Nanda's father, Lt. Commander Suresh Nanda (ex-Indian Navy), heads the arms supply firm Crown Corporation. His grandfather S.M. Nanda, was once India's Chief of Naval Staff; after retirement he joined the arms trading business. Sanjeev Nanda is a management graduate from INSEAD and Wharton.


Subsequently Sanjeev and five others were tried in a high profile court case that dragged on for many years. Ultimately the court did not find any of the witnesses reliable and the defense was able to make the case that it was perhaps a truck and not the BMW that had caused the deaths. All the accused were released, resulting in a sharp drop in public confidence in the legal system, since it was widely believed that the witnesses had been bought off.


Sunil Kulkarni is a witness that didn't turn hostile in a Delhi Additional sessions court. The case is continuing in Delhi at present.

The Joker--Why so serious? (a repost)

The Joker is a fictional character and super villain that appears in the comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, with contributions by artist Jerry Robinson, the Joker is the archenemy of the superhero Batman and first appeared in Batman #1 (Spring 1940). The Joker is a master criminal with a clown-like appearance, including bleached white skin, red lips, and green hair. Initially portrayed as a violent sociopath who murders people and commits crimes for his own amusement, the Joker, later in the 1940s, began to be written as a goofy trickster-thief. That characterization continued through the late 1950s and 1960s before the character became again depicted as a vicious killer.

He has been responsible for numerous tragedies in Batman's life, including the paralysis of Barbara Gordon (Batgirl/Oracle) and the murders of Jason Todd (the second Robin) and Jim Gordon's second wife Sarah Essen.

In 2006, Wizard magazine rated Joker as the greatest villain of all time.

The Dark Knight Wallpapers

A must see film!!!
More to come...

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Capital Punishment--Error in Judgement

Like other forms of punishment, application of the death penalty is subject to human fallibility. However, unlike other forms of punishment, the death penalty is irrevocable. These two factors make the outcome intolerable.

Former Supreme Court Chief Justice P N Bhagwati wrote: "The possibility of error in judgement cannot therefore be ruled out on any theoretical considerations. It is indeed a very live possibility and it is not at all unlikely that so long as [the] death penalty remains a constitutionally valid alternative, the court or the State acting through the instrumentality of the court may have on its conscience the blood of an innocent man".

Consider for example the case of Kehar Singh, who was executed for taking part in the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. It is now widely recognized that Kehar Singh's sentence was based on weak, circumstantial evidence. Today, even the judge who passed his sentence questions the accuracy of the judgement.

Capital Punishment under the Indian Penal Code--An Introduction

The only method of Capital Punishment in India is death by hanging, a practice which violates the universally recognized right to be free from torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. In August 1983, the then-Attorney-General of India described hanging as the best method of execution based on the theory that the vascular, nervous and respiratory systems are extinguished in a single moment. However, experience shows that hanging can be a brutal and long ordeal. For example, Nathuram Godse, the man convicted of murdering Mahatma Gandhi, was suspended for fifteen minutes from the scaffold before finally dying.

Notably, Mahatma Gandhi would have likely opposed his killer's fate: "I cannot in all conscience agree to anyone being sent to the gallows. God alone can take life because he alone gives it".

Accused Father Released

Rajesh Talwar, the father of Aarushi Talwar and the prime accused in her murder and the one of man servant Hemraj was granted bail yesterday. The premise being that the CBI had failed to gather any conclusive evidence against him. The investigation has now been diverted towards other leads, namely a group of other man servants.


The drama it seems never ceases in this "whodunnit" kind of mystery...watch this space for more.

Female Foeticide

Female foeticide is undoubtedly the most heinous crime being committed in so called modern India today. The tragedy is that people of higher economic stature are the ones driving this demonic practice within the country. So much for well afforded education. It obviously hasn't done much to correct the perversions of the Indian mentality. It reeks of decadence; of cowardice. So much for Indian values and principles. A country with so many female deities slaughtering the very forms they worship. Talk about religious sacrilege.


The oh so hallowed state of Punjab makes a fine example. It has for a while now been conferred the undisputed title of having the lowest sex ratio in the country. In fact, a local newspaper article revealed a recent study carried out by a Canadian University where they estimate that there are now only 300 girls to every 1000 boys. Incidentally, Punjab is also allegedly one of the most economically prosperous states in India. We can certainly make our own quite obvious interpretations from these facts. Chaos is the only realistic aftermath that will sooner more than later erupt from such a state of bedlam.


The authorities all the while play silent spectator. They will of course occasionally hold seminars, conferences and other circus acts to discuss the issue but who the hell really cares. Let's just play pretend for a while and subsequently pass the buck right guys...


When millions of our Indian women are being mercilessly slaughtered; denied the right to existence; surely it amounts to some form of genocide. If only our law-makers and more importantly law-enforcers would see it that way. If only they would gather up the nerve to actually perform no more than there goddamn ed duties. No amounts of profanity can accurately define the animosity I feel for the culprits.

We now live in a country where girls are no longer wanted. Staunchly done away with. A little Q n A for all you self righteous cowardice reeking pathetic excuses for men--Who in the hell gave birth to you demonic minions?

Ghaziabad--The land of Lost Children

The near idyllic scene of boisterous children playing on the streets, hides Ghaziabad's deepest tragedy and fear: of children vanishing mysteriously, never to return. Approximately 300 have gone missing from this Uttar Pradesh district's village since January 2007--and astonishingly one a day this year.

The police are characteristically dismissive.

In the absence of leads the parents' fearful imagination runs wild--perhaps it is a pornographic ring?Or cannibalism?Maybe an organ racket?Or perhaps they are kidnapped to have their blood extracted and sold?

Either way people in this region are ever apprehensive of the impending dangers aimed at their offspring.

Noida Developments

The CBI or the Central Bureau of Investigation have stepped in and taken over proceedings in the case. This comes as the result of numerous lapses in the investigation carried out by the local police. Most recent being the dwelling on the alleged dubious character of Aarushi, the deceased girl. Hypocrisy, narrow minded, mentally disturbed, characteristically flawed, etc. are only a few of the words one can think of to describe the people of the hallowed police force. It is indeed difficult to fathom the perverted mindsets of our self righteous law enforcers. Talk about character assassination; and that to of a little adolescent girl who can no longer defend herself. The police should be ashamed. Period.

Noida Developments

Rajesh Talwar, the main accused in the murder of his daughter and servant, has said that he never confessed to the murders as was earlier projected by the police.

The police's version of events revolves around a poor father-daughter relationship which eventually pen ultimated into murder. His bail plea based on failing health grounds has been rejected and he has been sent to a three-day police remand. Meanwhile, Nupur Talwar has publicly defended her husband proclaiming his innocence in the matter.

A fortnight has gone by with little or no insight into the core of the matter. The most relevant issues being motive, the weapon used and the people involved. Police competency is indeed being tested and the results are rather disappointing thus far. Enough time has passed for petty speculation to continue and a clearer picture should have been presented by now.

Noida Decadence

The following is a sequence of events from that fateful night:

• Dr and Mrs Talwar returned home just before 10 pm and had dinner with their daughter by 10:30 pm.
• After dinner, a surprise gift for Aarushi from her parents, a camera arrived by courier.
• After giving Aarushi the gift in her room, the Talwars went to their own room.
• Mrs Talwar last saw their daughter when she went to their room at 11:15 pm to get some help with fixing the home Internet connection.
• But from this point details become unclear as the parents remained in their room.
• Police are not clear as to how and why Hemraj went to the terrace. Did he go there to collect clothes or was he called there?
• At 6 am in the morning when Hemraj was not found at home, the Talwars called his mobile.
• It rang but the call was cut. Police say they have identified the area to where the call was made.

Meanwhile, in a dramatic development on Friday May 23, Aarushi's father Rajesh Talwar was arrested as the prime accused behind the murder of his daughter and servant.

Noida Twin Homicide

In a bid to lay hands on the real culprit of the mysterious twin-murder of Arushi (14) on May 15 and Hemraj (45), servant of her house, hours later; Noida police have taken the dentist parents of Arushi, Rajesh and Nupur Talwar to a secluded place for questioning. The contradicting and fluctuating statements given by Arushi's parents to police have brought them under the scanner.

The most intriguing part of the episode is the contradicting claims and revelations made by the NOIDA Police itself. Within no time after the killing of Arushi came to light, the police announced a cash reward for nabbing Hemraj, who was instantaneously projected as the main accused in the murder of the girl. Here, police did not even fulfil the basics of investigation. The police did not bother doing a routine search of Talwar's house. Nor did the police quiz the Talwar couple as to how they concluded that Hemraj was the culprit behind the murder.

Again, when the body of Hemraj was recovered, police threw up the name of Vishnu Thapa, the erstwhile servant of the Talwar family and a relative of Hemraj as the main accused. Subsequently, they arrested a person whose identity is yet to be established.

Jaipur Developments

The police have released several sketches of possible suspects based on eye witness accounts. Meanwhile, the attack has been linked to a Bangladesh based group. Consequently, illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in the state of Rajasthan are in for a trying time as the local Government has vowed deportation.



Further, the tourism industry of the state has quite naturally taken a beating as most hotels and resorts in the state have reported below average occupancy in the days following the attacks. The Government will have to act fast to restore the image of the state in the wake of these attacks.

Terror at the Pink City

Terror struck Jaipur (the Pink City) for the first time on Tuesday evening, May 13, as serial blasts killed at least 60 people and injured more than 150. Starting around 7.30 p.m. there were nine or 10 blasts within 15 minutes at six crowded places, including in the vicinity of two Hanuman temples, in the Walled City area.

Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria confirmed 60 dead and 150 injured though unofficial sources said the casualties could be higher.

Eyewitnesses said they could count 60 bodies in the overflowing mortuary of the City’s leading hospital, Sawai Man Singh. Some bodies were reportedly kept in the satellite hospital, Kanwatia, and a private hospital, Santokbha Durlabhji Memorial.

The blasts caused panic in the entire city while the authorities sealed off the Walled City. No traffic was allowed through its historic gates. The communication system also was jammed with mobiles not giving out signals.

Director-General Police A.S. Gill told this correspondent that forensic experts were still verifying the nature of the explosives. He did not confirm the use of RDX but said high intensity explosives were used in the bombs.

The blasts outside the temples targeted the devotees who gather in large numbers on Tuesdays. One temple is at Sanganeri Gate, while the other is at Chandpole.

The Chandpole blast was said to be of less intensity while the explosion on Maniharon ka Rasta near the victory tower, Sargasuli at Tripolia, was the most powerful.

The explosions at Bari Chauper near the world famous Hawa Mahal claimed at least three lives.

One of the bombs went off near a popular eating-place, Laxmi Mishtan Bhandar, in the crowded Johari Bazar area. Another exploded near the Kothwali police station at Choti Chauper. There are also reports that at least one live bomb was recovered near Chandpole.

Initial reports suggested that the terrorists used vehicles, including a car, cyclerickshaws and autorickshaws to plant the bombs, which were detonated with remote-controlled devices.

Incest Horror

wretched father...

The Fritzl incest case came to light in late April 2008 when a 42-year-old Austrian woman, Elisabeth Fritzl, told police that she had been sexually abused, raped, and physically assaulted by her father, Josef Fritzl, since 1977 and had been imprisoned by him since 1984. Austrian police say her father kept her for 24 years in a small soundproofed cellar with four beds and a bathroom. It extended beneath the family house in a village near the town of Amstetten in Lower Austria. In that cellar, she gave birth to a total of seven children (including twins, one of whom died) all of whom had been fathered by Josef. Three of them had been imprisoned with their mother their whole lives when they were found—daughter Kerstin and sons Stefan and Felix, who were aged 19, 18, and 5, respectively. The other three (Lisa, Monika, and Alexander) were cared for by Josef and his wife Rosemarie, and lived in the house upstairs.

Delhi's Soaring Crime Stats

Four murders that took place in Delhi on Thursday (May 1) are the latest in a series of crimes that have earned Delhi the dubious distinction as nation's crime capital.




Among the 35 major cities in India, Delhi tops the list of number of reported crime cases for five years in a row. Delhi leads in almost all violent crimes including murder, dowry deaths, rape, molestation and abduction.




According to official figures, Delhi witnessed 134 murders and 119 attempts on life during the first three months of the year. At least 20 murders were registered in the city in April. This is in addition to the number of cases that go unreported.




The annual crime statistics compiled by the Delhi police reveals that 467 murders, 499 attempted murders, 581 rapes and 1764 dacoities were registered in the city during 2007.There was a 200 percent increase in cyber crimes, including credit card frauds, in 2007.

Linked to this trend of crimes against women was an overwhelming sense of individualisation, manifested in a culture of non-intervention. Therefore, we have a society which is totally silent and non-interventionist. Why is it that in Delhi young girls in buses don't find any support when they are harassed? People get emboldened when they see such social silence around them.

There is almost a voyeuristic element in the passivity of the denizens of Delhi and it is here that the role of the Delhi Police becomes vital. University students feel that often the police themselves were found to be indulging in mild forms of ogling or eve-teasing or appeared completely non-serious about their responsibilities.

India--Capital Shame II

The policeman accused of raping the twelve year old girl in a moving car in Delhi has confessed to the crime according to reports. He has also been sacked from the police force.




This however would not subdue angry mobs in the capital as they set the alleged vehicle--in which the incident had apparently taken place--on fire. The incident could prove to do more harm than good as vital evidence may have been destroyed in the inferno.

We shall have to wait and watch for further developments in the case.

India--Capital Shame

A 12 year old girl has been raped in Delhi, bringing to light how unsafe women are in the Indian capital. What's more appalling is that of the two men accused of the rape, one is a traffic constable. A classic case of law keepers turning into law breakers.



The two men abducted the girl in the dead of the night and raped her in a moving car before dumping her off . A medical examination has confirmed the rape. Further, the victim's father has revealed he was offered money to hush up the matter by the police force.



It certainly looks very ominous for a country where even little girls are no longer safe from the decadence of men. Earlier, in the very same city Delhi a two and a half year old girl was raped by a rickshaw puller.


It seems God has indeed forsaken this land.

Goa Calling--Update

Scarlett Keeling's body has been flown back to her native England. A medical examination conducted there has revealed that some vital organs are missing suggesting a possible cover up. Earlier in India, the Goan authorities had conducted two separate postmortems with conflicting results. This latest revelation by the English authorities have only added fire to the conspiracy claims by Scarlett's mother, Fiona.

Her lawyer in India will approach the Goan police for some much needed explanations.

Aruba Evanesce

Natalee Ann Holloway (born October 21, 1986) disappeared on May 30, 2005 during a high school graduation trip in Aruba. An American student born in Clinton, Mississippi and most recently from Mountain Brook, Alabama, Holloway had graduated from Mountain Brook High School on May 24, just before the trip to Aruba. The disappearance generated a media sensation in the United States, Aruba, and the Netherlands.


Holloway failed to show up at the airport for her return flight, and her packed bags were found in her room. Holloway was last known to have been seen outside of Carlos'n Charlie's, a Oranjestad nightclub, with locals Joran van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, but the three men denied knowing what became of her. Van der Sloot was arrested twice on suspicion of involvement in her disappearance and the Kalpoes were arrested three times each, but each was released each time due to lack of evidence.


Aruban investigators conducted an extensive search of the island for Holloway, with the help of thousands of volunteers. FBI agents also participated in the search, as did fifty Dutch soldiers and specially equipped Dutch F-16s. Divers examined the ocean floor. The searches were without result, and Holloway remains officially missing to this day, although according to Aruban authorities she is most likely dead.


Throughout the search, Aruban investigators were criticized by Holloway's family for a perceived lack of progress. Holloway's family even called for a boycott of Aruba, which gained the support of Alabama Governor Bob Riley, but which failed to gain national backing. In addition to criticism of the investigation, many accused media outlets of using the story to boost ratings, and have pointed to the coverage as an example of missing white woman syndrome.


On December 18, 2007, Aruban prosecutors announced that the case would be closed without any charges brought against any of the then-suspects, whose status as such was thus ended under Aruban law.


According to a February 1, 2008, statement by the prosecutor's office, the case has been reopened.

American Gangster

Frank Lucas (born September 9, 1930 in La Grange, North Carolina and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina) is a former heroin dealer, murderer, and organized crime boss in Harlem during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was particularly known for cutting out middlemen in the drug trade and buying heroin directly from his source in Southeast Asia. Frank Lucas is popularly known for smuggling heroin from Thailand using the coffins of dead American servicemen, a claim his South Asian associate, Leslie "Ike" Atkinson denies.


He is the subject of the 2007 film "American Gangster", starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe.

Joker Wallpapers

Hope you appreciate these Joker walls. The first one is dedicated to Heath Ledger. Leave a comment letting us know what you think.

The Joker--Why So Serious?

The Joker is a fictional character and super villain that appears in the comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, with contributions by artist Jerry Robinson, the Joker is the archenemy of the superhero Batman and first appeared in Batman #1 (Spring 1940). The Joker is a master criminal with a clown-like appearance, including bleached white skin, red lips, and green hair. Initially portrayed as a violent sociopath who murders people and commits crimes for his own amusement, the Joker, later in the 1940s, began to be written as a goofy trickster-thief. That characterization continued through the late 1950s and 1960s before the character became again depicted as a vicious killer.

He has been responsible for numerous tragedies in Batman's life, including the paralysis of Barbara Gordon (Batgirl/Oracle) and the murders of Jason Todd (the second Robin) and Jim Gordon's second wife Sarah Essen.

In 2006, Wizard magazine rated Joker as the greatest villain of all time.

The Joker has been portrayed by various actors in other media. He was portrayed by Cesar Romero in the 1960s Batman television series; Jack Nicholson in the 1989 film Batman (Nicholson's version of the Joker ranks #45 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 50 film villains); and voice actor Mark Hamill in TV's Batman: The Animated Series.

The late Heath Ledger portrays the character for director Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins sequel, The Dark Knight.

In memory of Scarlett...

oh can't you see cruel world
the source of her hurt
the fuel to her flames
suffering, her suffering
explicit words, brutal advances
nasty stares, pornographic proposals
how her flesh has suffered
how time has left her scarred
and the ways of men nulled her soul
tears of joy escape her
memory holds no consolations
tears of shame, hurt and pain are all she knows
frozen at the curtains of her sight
she pleads for death..
a dramatic conclusion, an end, no more

Goa--The saga ensues

The saga around Scarlett Keeling's rape and murder continues with reports of a possible CBI inquiry into the entire affair. This at the behest of Fiona Mckeown, Scarlett's mother. She has repeatedly voiced her distrust over the investigation conducted by the Goan police. Let us hope that this brings to light the truth behind the tragic death of the teenager.


Meanwhile, the Goan chief minister has briefed the Indian prime minister over the entire matter. The former is after all under immense pressure to ensure that justice be served; as the entire world is indeed watching.

Goa--Homicidal Drowning

Scarlett Keeling, the British teenager found dead in Goa, was murdered by having her head held under the sea for up to 10 minutes, her mother’s lawyer has claimed.

Vikram Varma, who is acting for Fiona MacKeown, Scarlett's mother, cited a new postmortem report from Goa’s chief pathologist, which also revealed that the alcohol and drugs in her body were not sufficient to kill her.

The new report, prepared in Goa’s state capital Panjim by forensic scientist Dr Silvano Sapeco, is partly based on the results of a stomach analysis.

It said: “The findings in this case are consistent with exact (text book) picture for homicidal drowning in shallow water.”

The report also said cuts and bruises on the body showed she had fought against her killers.

The new claims directly contradict the police account of the events leading up to the death of Scarlett, 15.

Goa police initially tried to convince Ms MacKeown that her daughter’s death last month was due to accidental drowning.

After a vigorous campaign by Ms MacKeown, a second autopsy was ordered which confirmed her belief that Scarlett had been raped and murdered.

“The reports show that Scarlett fought back,” said Mr Varma. “It is also clear that her head was held under shallow water for five to 10 minutes.

"This is consistent with a forensic description of homicidal drowning. This shows that we have been lied to all along.”

Ms MacKeown said she had been "proved right" by the latest findings and accused the Goan police of a "cover-up".

"This is something I’ve been saying from the beginning," she said.

"I’ve said there’s been a cover-up from the start. I haven’t been contacted by the police once. I want the police brought to justice."

She reiterated her calls for a full independent investigation by the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation (ICBI) into the way the case has been handled.

Goa--Key witness steps up

Michael Mannion, also known as Mike Masala, claimed that on the night Scarlett died he saw his friend Samson D’Souza with the teenager outside the beach bar where they had all spent the evening.

He also claims he had earlier warned Mr D’Souza to stay away from her as she was clearly a minor.

In a statement given to the murdered girl’s mother Fiona MacKeown and her lawyer, Mr Mannion, who had been staying with Mr D’Souza and his French wife Cecile, says Scarlett arrived at Lui’s bar on Anjuna beach at about 3am and was already inebriated and fell over on the steps outside.

He said she came over to talk to him and told him she was 15 years old and had no money for a taxi home.

Mr Mannion saw her leave the bar at about 5am with a man named Murli who he believed was giving her a lift home.

Five minutes later Mr Mannion noticed Mr D’Souza too had left.

When Mr Mannion went outside he allegedly saw Mr Murli driving away and Mr D’Souza with Scarlett.

The girl’s body was found by locals near to Lui’s bar at about 6.30am.

According to Mr Mannion, he left immediately because he was afraid to intervene.

“I was in a complete state of panic, shock. I got on my bike and rode off,” he said.

During the alleged assault, according to police, Miss Keeling began to lose consciousness. They suspect Mr D’Souza then tried to revive her by splashing water on her face.

When he saw a man with a torch approaching, he panicked and left her to die.

Asked for his reaction when he heard a young girl had been found dead, Mr Mannion said “Initially I said nothing, I did nothing. Then two of the people working in the shack were called in for questioning. I was told then by another local to stay away and not to say anything.”

Mr Mannion said he left Anjuna on the 23 February and had been travelling around India, scared for his life. Last week Indian authorities put its ports and airports on alert to stop Mr Mannion from leaving the country, saying he was crucial to their investigation, and gave assurances of his safety.

When Mr Mannion heard the police were anxious to talk to him, he approached the British High Commission in Mumbai but was told it could not interfere in Indian judicial proceedings.

He said he had now come forward after the police promised he would be safe.

“It is important for me to be here,” he said. “A 15 year old girl has been raped and murdered. Justice needs to be done.”

Goa--The Scarlett Diaries

A tabloid in London has reported excerpts from Scarlett Keeling's Diary. Its reveals that Scarlett was living a hedonistic life of sex, drugs and alcohol in the days prior to her death.

In her final entry before leaving england in November she described a farewell party where she "got drunk stoned and was trippin' on mushies (hallucinogenic mushrooms)".

The entries, mostly undated, are written in a schoolbook. In her penultimate entry she wrote: "I want to go home".


She signed some of them with her nickname, Skaz. There are pages of childish drawings--a heart, two saxophones and unhappy cartoon faces, one of which has tears gushing from its eyes. The final page shows a stick figure hanging from the gallows. Underneath was the name, address and telephone number of Julio Lobo, her boyfriend.

According to her diary, Scarlett met Julio at a "full moon party" which would put their first meeting and first sexual encounter as early as November 24, just days after her arrival in India. Goa police have now hinted at arresting Julio Lobo, 21, under the Goa Children's Act.

Investigations so far have revealed that he played no role in her rape and murder. However, he could be booked for statutory rape as the IPC and the Goa Act considers consensual sex with a minor "rape".

Goa--Paradise Lost III

Police in India have arrested and charged a man with the rape and murder of Scarlett Keeling, who was found dead on a beach in Goa. Placido Carvalho, who was arrested last night, is said to have been one of the men seen with the 15-year-old the night before she died.

He appeared in court in Mapusa today on charges of raping and murdering the Devon teenager, according to senior police official Bosco George.


In a statement, Mr Carvalho claimed he had seen Scarlett arriving at Lui's bar at about 3.30am on Feb 18 - the night she was killed - in a state of "total inebriation".At about 4.40am he says he saw her leave with a man named Murli and that they were followed five minutes later by Samson D'Souza.

Mr D'Souza, 28, was arrested earlier this week and detained on suspicion of the statutory rape of Scarlett.


A third suspect, who has not yet been identified, was apparently arrested earlier today according to Vikram Varma, a lawyer who is acting for Scarlett's mother Fiona MacKeown. But there has been no official confirmation of this.


Miss MacKeown has been critical of the police investigation which last night saw a senior police officer suspended for "serious lapses" in the case.

She has written to the Indian prime minister claiming that police attempted to cover up the crime as an accidental drowning.

Goan police only started to treat Scarlett's death as murder after a second post mortem, carried out following pressure from Miss MacKeown, showed her daughter was covered in bruises.


Detectives are also hoping to question Scarlett's boyfriend, Julio Lobo, a 25-year-old Goan tour guide with whom the teenager had been staying.

According to Mr Carvalho's statement, Michael Manyon, a British tourist also known as Masala Mike, was also present in the hours leading up to Scarlett's death.

Police issued a ports and airports alert for Mr Manyon yesterday.


Scarlett's mother and siblings were touring a neighbouring state when the teenager's half-naked body was found in the resort of Anjuna.

The 43-year-old, a mother of nine, from Bideford, Devon, said the police were not giving her any information.

Meanwhile Kishan Kumar, a senior police officer, has said Miss MacKeown could still be investigated for negligence because she left her daughter at the resort.

Goa--Paradise Lost II

The mother of Scarlett keeling has urged a Briton who fled the Indian state to get in touch.

Fiona MacKeown believes that the man witnessed the rape of her daughter, Scarlett Keeling, 15.

He had apparently confided in another foreign resident of Goa, who then contacted her, but the man had since left in fear of his own life. “We urge him to come forward because this information could be vital to this case,” she said.

Her appeal came as the authorities in Goa agreed to allow a second post-mortem examination of Scarlett's body and to decide whether to open a criminal case within the next few days. Police also revealed that they had questioned an employee of a beach-front bar who they said was seen leaving the bar with Scarlett at about 4am on February 18, the last time she was seen alive.

The case has thrown a fresh spotlight on the issue of foreign women's safety in India after a series of sexual assaults on tourists, including several Britons, in the past three months. It also highlights the darker side of Goa, where palm-fringed beaches, a laid-back atmosphere and plentiful drugs have made it a favourite destination for young backpackers.

Scarlett had been staying with Julio, a 25-year-old local tour guide, while the rest of her family travelled in the state of Karnataka. The guide said he last saw Scarlett at 8.30pm on February 18 when he drove her to a restaurant to meet a Spanish friend called Ruby. Witnesses say that Scarlett and Ruby went out and returned drunk to the restaurant at 1am. Scarlett then left alone, they say.

Police said that Scarlett was seen arriving at Lui's, one of about two dozen beach “shacks” that line Anjuna beach, at about 4am, and leaving with one of the barmen soon afterwards. Locals found her half-naked body at about 6.30am close to the bar. Her shorts and underpants had been removed and her bra-top pushed up around her neck.

Police sources declined to say if either Lui, the owner, or Samson Da Souza, another employee, was the man seen leaving with Scarlett.

Goa--Paradise Lost

Authorities in India are investigating whether a British girl, Scarlet Keeling could have been raped and killed in Goa last month(February) after the victim's parents demanded a more thorough look at the case.

Two weeks ago in February, police found the body of Scarlet Keeling, a 15-year-old British tourist, with bruises all over her body on a deserted Goa beach. Police initially said she had possibly drowned.

It is the latest case 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 said Scarlet was raped and murdered and demanded immediate action, police said.


"We have recorded her death as an unnatural one and now trying to find out whether she was indeed raped and murdered," Bosco Jorge, a senior police officer probing the case, said from Goa.


An autopsy report has revealed her mouth was stuffed with sand and she did not have enough salt water in her lungs to suggest drowning, but police said it was too early to come to conclusions.


On Sunday, authorities in Goa said they had asked the police to look deeper into the case after Keeling's parents demanded a second autopsy.
"We are looking into this case very seriously," said J.P. Singh, the chief secretary of Goa state.

Tourist industry officials remain worried.

"If we can't protect our tourists, the word will spread and people will be scared to come to India," Sunil Kohli, chairman of the Travel Agents Federation of India said in New Delhi.

Engineering Terror

Feb 21 2007, India: The Bangalore police arrest a suspected terrorist Mohammad Yahya Kammakutty, an electrical engineer in Bangalore, belonging to the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). He was suspected of being connected to the attacks on the Indian Institute of Sciences (IISC) , Bangalore. His three companions, however, managed to escape.


Yahya was arrested from the Gurranpannapalya area on Bannerghatta Road in the city by a team of Corps of Detectives (CoD) of Bangalore police on Thursday. He was arrested on the basis of information disclosed during the interrogation of a terrorist who was recently arrested in Uttar Pradesh.


The 32-year-old suspect is a native of a village near Kozhikode in Kerala and has worked with General Electric (GE) Software in the past.


According to the police he had been living in Banglaore for the last eight years and was unemployed for the past few months after the firm GE sacked him last year for his rather suspicious activities.

Mission Safer India

Kiran Bedi, now retired, was India's first and highest ranked woman police officer. She has now launched a new website to cater to the needs of every man and woman in terms of seeking proper redressal of their complaints at the hands of the police in India.



This could prove remarkably groundbreaking in helping to counter the innumerable cases of police indifference towards the complaints of common citizens. One can only hope that enough people choose to equip themselves with this wonderful tool for it to become effective.

Please visit www.saferindia.com

And let us all hope that Ms.Kiran Bedi's initiative proves successful in helping to carve an indeed SAFER INDIA.

EDMUND KEMPER INTERVIEW

An interview with Edmund Kemper can be found at http://www.truecrime.net/kemper/



The interview was conducted just a few hours after he, 24 at the time, was convicted on eight counts of first degree murder...

The Aftermath--Edmund Kemper

Kemper worked a series of odd jobs before securing work with the State of California's Department of Public Works/Division of Highways in District 4 (now known as Department of Transportation or Caltrans). By that time, his height had reached 6 feet, 9 inches, and he weighed more than 300 pounds (136 kg).

Between May 1972 and February 1973, Kemper embarked on a spree of murders, picking up female students hitchhiking, taking them to isolated rural areas and killing them. He would stab, shoot or smother the victims and afterwards take the bodies back to his apartment where he would have sex with them and then dissect them. He would often dump the bodies in ravines or bury them in fields, although on one occasion he buried the severed head of a 15-year-old girl in his mother's garden as a kind of sick joke, later remarking that his mother "always wanted people to look up to her." He killed six college girls (including two students from UC Santa Cruz, where his mother worked, and one from Cabrillo College). He would often go hunting for victims after arguing with his mother.

In April 1973, Kemper battered his mother to death with a pick hammer while she slept. He decapitated her, raped her headless body and used her head as a dartboard, after putting her vocal cords in the garbage disposal, but the machine could not break the tough tissue down and regurgitated it back into the sink. "That seemed appropriate," Ed said after his arrest, "as much as she'd bitched and screamed and yelled at me over so many years." His murderous urges not yet satiated, he then invited his mother's best friend over and killed her too, by strangulation. He then drove eastward, but when no word of his crimes hit the radio airwaves he became discouraged, stopped the car, called the police and confessed to being the Co-ed Killer. He told them what he had done and waited for them to pick him up, seemingly unashamed as he confessed to necrophilia and cannibalism. At his trial he pleaded insanity, but he was found guilty of eight counts of murder. He asked for the death penalty, but with capital punishment suspended at that time, he instead received life imprisonment.

The Kemper Influence on Popular Culture...

American death-grind metal band Macabre wrote a song about Edmund Kemper on their 1993 album Sinister Slaughter entitled "Edmund Kemper Had a Horrible Temper."

He was once quoted in an interview: "What do you think, now, when you see a pretty girl walking down the street?" and answering himself: "One side of me says, 'Wow, what an attractive chick. I'd like to talk to her, date her.' The other side of me says, 'I wonder how her head would look on a stick.'" In Bret Easton Ellis' book American Psycho, main character Patrick Bateman, himself a serial killer, paraphrases this quote when asked about women, although he mistakenly attributes it to Ed Gein.

The Kemper Influence on Popular Culture--The Berzerker

The Berzerker's song "Forever" from the self titled album contains samples from Ed Kemper's testament, including "As I'm sitting there with a severed head in my hand, talking to it, or looking at it, and I'm about to go crazy, literally I'm about to go completely... Flywheel loose and just fall apart". It also contains samples such as "At the age of 24, he murdered his mother, then called police and confessed to having dismembered college co-eds for two years, as well as cannibalizing and raping their headless bodies" and "put her vocal cords in a garbage disposal, then threw darts at her severed head". These are all references to Kemper's murders...