When the matter came up for hearing on Monday, the petitioner drew the Court’s attention to the fact that the ‘influential’ minister, with the tacit support of the authorities, was mischievously trying to evade and circumvent from adhering to the High Court’s order that had sentenced him to six months in jail, in the Electricity department junior engineer Kapil Natekar assault case.
The Court had on July 17, 2014, directed Pacheco to surrender before the Margao JMFC and undergo six months imprisonment and also pay a fine of Rs 1,500.
The petitioner had approached the High Court in December 2013, and challenged Pacheco’s release by Margao Sessions Judge Vijaya Pol on admonition by granting him benefit of the Probation of Offenders Act. The high court had converted the petition into a suo-motu petition which later led to upholding of Pacheco’s conviction.
The Supreme Court had recently dismissed the minister’s plea seeking relief by upholding the High Court’s order. Pacheco subsequently filed a revision petition even as he had to quit from the Goa cabinet.
