Mickky knocks doors of Sessions court for bail
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, JULY 9
Beleaguered former Tourism Minister, Mickky Pacheco has knocked the doors of the South Goa Sessions Court for bail moments after the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Margao remanded him to seven days police custody.
The bail application will come up for hearing before Additional Sessions Judge B P Deshpande on Monday afternoon.
Saying that the ongoing investigations is politically influenced, Pacheco said he had fallen in bad books of his political colleagues by accusing the Chief Minister and the Home Minister in the Excise scam and the Drug scam in Goa, involving the kith and kin of political bigwigs in the government.
In his bail plea, Pacheco claimed there is no direct, indirect or circumstantial evidence against him except the circumstance that he happened to be the close friend of deceased Nadia Torrado and her family for many years. He pointed out that the investigation agency has made or is making a mounting out of a mole hill for ulterior reasons.
Apprehending harassment from the police, the former minister said that custodial interrogations have commenced and any further custodial interrogation is not necessary.
Saying that he is sick, tense and unable to bear the tension that he is in police custody, Pacheco said he will rely upon medical reports maintained by Hospicio hospital and Goa Medical College to establish that he is really unwell and that any further police custody will be detrimental to his health.
Saying that he will not tamper with evidence, Pacheco said he would abide by any condition to be imposed by the court and undertook to appear before the investigating agency or the court as and when required.
He prayed to the court to call for the investigation papers for scrutiny and examination, saying the papers would disclose that he is innocent and has been falsely implicated.
“The police are trying to harass me. The case being set up by the police against me is false, concocted and politically motivated”, he said, adding “I am innocent. I have not committed the alleged offenses. I have been falsely implicated”.
Saying that he had given a detailed statement to the police on all aspects of the matter during his interrogations by the Crime branch on June 4, Pacheco said he realised during the course of recording his statement that the investigations are not being carried out in a fair manner and is to finish him politically.
The former minister said he did not appear thereafter before the police in order to evade the illegal arrest or detention as he had strong apprehensions that he may have been illegally arrested by the police.
