The Goa Children's court (GCC) on Wednesday acquitted Julio Lobo, who was said to be the boyfriend of slain British teenager Scarlett Keeling. Julio had been charged under the Goa Children's Act for staying with Scarlett, a minor.
GCC president BP Deshpande ruled that the state police had failed to produce any documentary evidence against Julio during the trial. Julio was earlier reported to have been staying with the 15-year-old when her mother Fiona Mackeown was partying at Gokarna in neighbouring Karnataka.
The chargesheet filed by the police had stated that Julio was staying with the minor girl (a crime under the GCA) some days before she was found dead in a semi-nude state at the Anjuna beach in February last year.
Julio had been arrested in March last year, more than a month after Scarlett's body was recovered. The CBI and the state police have also chargesheeted two people - Samson D'Souza and Placido Carvalho - in connection with Keeling's murder.