Former Goa minister Pacheco's bail plea rejected

A local court on Wednesday rejected the bail plea of former Goa Tourism Minister Fransisco Mickey Pacheco in connection with the death of his friend Nadia Torrado.

Additional Sessions judge Pramod Kamat denied bail to Pacheco, who surrendered before the court on Saturday last after the Supreme Court rejected his anticipatory bail petition.

Pacheco is currently undergoing treatment for hypertension, jaundice and urinary tract infection at the Hospicio

hospital in Margao.

The court has ordered that the crime branch can take his custody once he is discharged from the hospital or is medically fit.

The 46-year-old NCP legislator was booked by police on the charge of abetment to suicide and culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Pacheco's close friend Nadia, 28, had allegedly consumed poison on May 15 and subsequently was admitted to various private hospitals in Goa, Thane and Chennai. She died on May 30.