Visa row: CBI grills ex-Goa minister Pacheco

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday quizzed former Goa tourism minister Fransisco Mickey Pacheco in connection with the illegal immigration racket and has frozen his bank accounts.

The 46-year-old Nationalist Congress Party lawmaker arrived at CBI's office in Bambolim village near Panaji after he was summoned by the central agency. However, there was no official word on whether he was detained or not.

The former state minister has been booked by the CBI for allegedly using

forged documents to send people abroad, especially the US, through his manpower recruitment agency, a charge denied by him.

The CBI raided his house at Betalbhatim in South Goa on Wednesday and Thursday and froze his bank accounts.

Sources said three mobiles used by him were also seized by the CBI sleuths.

Pacheco, who had resigned as tourism minister after his name cropped up in the case relating to the death of his close friend Nadia Torrado, was arrested on July 9. He got bail on July 26.