A Briton has been found dead in Goa, two weeks after the half-naked body of a British teenager was discovered on the south Indian state’s popular Anjuna beach.

Police said that Michael Harvey, 34, was found dead on his bed on Saturday in a beach hut near Ashwem beach, a popular backpacker haunt about half an hour’s drive north of Anjuna.

Bosco George, the superintendent of police for North Goa, told The Times that a post-mortem examination had shown that Mr Harvey died of pulmonary and cerebral oedema.“As of now, we do not suspect any foul play,” he said.

However, he said that police had sent blood and other samples to be tested for alcohol and narcotics at a forensic science laboratory and would not close the case until the results came through.

He also said that Mr Harvey had arrived in Goa on February 29 and had checked straight into the St Francis guesthouse near Ashwem beach. “He went straight to bed and started snoring, so staff didn’t take his details,” he said. “The next morning they found him dead.”

The discovery of Mr Harvey's body came as the mother of Scarlett Keeling, a 15-year-old girl found dead on Anjuna beach last month, accused local police of trying to cover up her rape and murder.

An autopsy originally concluded that Scarlett had drowned and police had been ready to close the case until Fiona MacKeown, the girl's mother, protested to top state officials.

Police agreed yesterday to do a second autopsy and to decide whether to open a rape and murder case within two to three days.

The British High Commission said that 10 British citizens had died in Goa this year alone, four of them from unnatural causes.

It said that 40 British citizens died in Goa in 2007 from both natural and unnatural causes, but did not have a precise breakdown of the figures.

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