Ananova:

A third person has been arrested by police investigating the rape and murder of a British teenager found dead on a beach in Goa.

The person, who has not yet been identified, was arrested earlier according to the lawyer acting for the mother of dead 15-year-old Scarlett Keeling.

The news comes after police on Wednesday night arrested Placedo or Placido Carvalho, who is due in court.

Vikram Varma, acting for Fiona MacKeown, said Mr Carvalho will be in court on Thursday morning, and a third person - a boy - has been arrested.

Police are already questioning Samson D'Souza, 28, who appeared in Mapusa, Goa, on Monday and was remanded in custody for 14 days.

Ms MacKeown, 43, from Bideford, Devon, said she was unaware of the third arrest and said the police were not giving them any information.

She said: "I think a second person is due in court but the police aren't keeping us up to date we are or getting all of our information second-hand."

Local police said the death of the girl, whose semi-naked body was found in the resort of Anjuna on February 19, was an accidental drowning. A murder investigation was launched following a second post mortem examination - carried out following pressure from Ms MacKeown - which showed she had been attacked.

Scarlett had been staying with her boyfriend, a 25-year-old Goan tour guide, called Julio Lobo, in Anjuna, when she was last seen at a bar in the resort.

In a letter to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Ms MacKeown said: "I've no faith in the leadership of the Goa Police." She has claimed drug dealers, politicians and police had collaborated to disguise the killing of her daughter and said the administration tried to hush up the death as a simple case of drowning.