SC rejects former Goa tourism minister's bail plea

Observing that the accused has the propensity to influence the trial, the Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of former Goa Tourism Minister Francisco Mickey Pacheco in connection with the death of his woman friend.

A bench of Justices R M Lodha and A K Patnaik rejected the plea of the former minister that he was not involved in the murder even though he had a relationship with the deceased Nadia Torrado.

The apex court said that besides the fact that Pacheco was a influential political leader, the post-mortem report had indicated that the deceased had 13-14 contusion marks on various parts of her body.

Earlier, the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court had on June 21 rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Pacheco. It had also turned down the bail plea of his close aide Lyndon Monteiro on technical grounds.

Both are accused in the case registered following the death of 28-year-old Nadia, who passed away after allegedly consuming poison on May 30 in Chennai. Police have charged Pacheco with culpable homicide while Monteiro has been accused of destroying evidence.

The Bombay High Court, while rejecting the bail plea, had said the offence was of serious nature and custodial interrogation was required in the case.

Monteiro's bail plea was rejected on the ground that his counsel did not bring on the record the fact that he had withdrawn his anticipatory bail plea from the high court on an earlier occasion after he was asked to remain present in person.

The sessions court in Margao had earlier rejected the anticipatory bail pleas of Pacheco and Monteiro.

Crime branch, which had interrogated Pacheco on June 5, said they wanted custodial interrogation of the accused, as they were yet to recover two mobiles and a laptop belonging to Nadia.