Goa cops panic as another Briton goes missing, found

Katie and Rebecca, who arrived in Goa on Monday, had gone partying at a bar on Calangut beach. But since they had just one key between them to their hotel room in Anjuna, they had agreed that the one without the key would wait for the other if she returned first.

So when Rebecca, who did not have the key, returned to the hotel around 3.30 am on Thursday, the room was locked and there was no sign of Katie. An alarm was raised and the wireless message was flashed around by the police, even pulling a Deputy SP N Gotlekar out of his bed to monitor Katie8217;s search.

More policemen and patrol vans were summoned and some tourists in the area, including a Japanese couple and this reporter, also joined the search, torches in hand. It did not matter that it was drizzling, and there was a nip in the air, or that it was still pitch dark.

8220;We hope she is not in trouble,8221; constable Gavas kept mumbling every few minutes as he trekked up and down the beach, in what seemed like a reflection of the police8217;s confidence in the law enforcement in the area.

The wireless sets continued to crackle with messages in Konkani even as torches were shone on locals who work and sleep near the beach shacks. Some doors were knocked on and foreign tourists in various states of undress brought out.

Some of them stepped out wrapped in bed sheets while two foreign women who were woken up refused to open the door of their beach house and yelled abuses from inside at officer L Amonkar. 8220;They need to open the door and co-operate as a girl is missing,8221; he said while his colleagues kept reassuring Rebecca that Katie 8220;was safe somewhere8221;.

With the search proving futile until the sunrise, the visibly tense policemen decided to escort Rebecca to Anjuna police station to file a missing person complaint. But just as their van turned a corner, Katie was found walking sleepily out of the compound of a Goan house converted into a lodge.

8220;I waited, but since it was very dark, and this was Anjuna I preferred to go to a place where there were people around,8221; Katie told the policemen. 8220;So I just climbed up into this house and slept in the corridor,8221; she said.

Two policemen hugged each other in relief, indicating how much the Keeling murder had jolted them, particularly with the investigating Sub-Inspector of Anjuna being suspended for alleged lapses in his inquiry into the case. 8220;It would have been such a huge mistake if this had ended in any other way,8221; said one of the two cops.

8220;I was told about it as the first thing in the morning. The men did a good job,8221; said North Goa SP Bosco George, who headed the second investigation into Keeling8217;s death. 8220;I think we can say this is one good thing that has come out of the crisis. Let8217;s just say that the men now have a sense of responsibility,8221; he said.