The Hindu : Front Page : Scarlette’s mother goes into hiding fearing for life

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Scarlette’s mother goes into hiding fearing for life

Panaji: Almost winding up her fight against the flourishing drug trade in the coastal State, Fiona Mackeown, mother of slain British girl Scarlette Eden Keeling, has moved to an undisclosed destination in South Goa fearing for her life, allegedly from the drug mafia.

“There is no point in continuing the fight if the State police are not interested in cooperating. The men in uniform are busy levelling allegations against me rather than probing what I say,” Fiona told PTI from a beach village in South Goa.

Ms. Fiona, who was in the media glare for almost a month, shifted to South Goa, on Friday and denied to reveal her address publicly.

“In case, I end up being a victim, I know it would not bring back my daughter to life but it would have saved generations of Goans who are getting trapped in the drug trade,” she said.

Facing wrath

The 43-year-old mother is already facing wrath for alleging State Home Minister Ravi Naik’s involvement in the drug trade.

The U.K. national, who is fighting a battle to expose the drug mafia and for justice to her daughter Scarlett, who was drugged, raped and left to die on Goa’s popular Anjuna beach, says that she would prefer to stay back peacefully in the U.K. as no one in Goa has come forward to provide support to her cause.

“The state government has categorically stated that they will not allow me to enter India again. I have to fly back with the coffin as I have to give a decent burial to my daughter. How I am supposed to continue the fight,” she asked.

She said that people in the drug mafia may not have sent a direct threat to her but there is talk on the beaches that the trade has come to a halt because of her. “People say that if I had to walk out accepting Scarlett’s death as due to drowning then their business would not have suffered as it is now,” she said.

“I cannot give you direct evidence of drug mafia threatening me as they have not gone on television to say that. But these talks are enough indication of their ire towards me,” she said. — PTI

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