The forensic expert who conducted the first autopsy on slain British girl Scarlett Keeling has been suspended, with the Goa Government on Wednesday claiming to have found prima facie ‘mistakes’ on the expert’s part. Dr Silvano Sapeco, a forensic expert in the state-owned Goa Medical College and Hospital, was suspended on Monday in Scarlett murder case investigation. The Government felt there was a mistake on his part, Health Minister Vishwajeet Rane said, refusing to elaborate on the ‘mistake’.The minister said the state Government’s parallel inquiry recommended the suspension. Rane said the state Government’s inquiry into the entire episode was still on. “We are examining the entire case from various angles and prima facie there was a mistake on Sapeco’s part,” he said. Sapeco conducted the first autopsy on Scarlett’s body, but did not express the possibility of homicidal drowning in his findings. The first autopsy sparked off the entire controversy with Fiona demanding a second detailed autopsy on her daughter’s body. The second autopsy conducted by a team of forensic experts recommended that the death be investigated as a murder. Little after the second autopsy findings, Sapeco went to the press with a statement that “he had verbally expressed possibility of homicidal drowning in this case to the police after the first autopsy”. Incidents after the second autopsy saw the police claiming to have cracked the case, arresting two locals Samson D Souza, a barman, and alleged drug dealer Placido Carvalho. Just as IG Kishan Kumar announced that investigations in the case were over, Sapeco filed a final opinion contradicting police line of investigation. This reportedly perturbed the state Government, resulting in action against the forensic expert. The police, too, had recommended that Sapeco be suspended as he was hampering the investigation, a source close to Goa Chief Minister said.
