PANJIM, JULY 10
Lyndon Monteiro, the co-accused in the Nadia Torrado death case, said he was touring religious places while different courts were hearing his anticipatory bail pleas.
Speaking to Herald, Monteiro, who is on interim bail in an order by the Supreme Court on July 1 claimed he was not absconding. He visited places including Mumbai, Pune, Nashik and Shirdi.
“I was very much in and around Goa. While my anticipatory bail pleas were appearing for hearing before different courts, I visited these places to pay respects to Infant Jesus in Nashik and to Saibaba in Shirdi. Along with this, I also accomplished few business related work,” Monteiro, a close aide to the former Tourism Minister Mickky Pacheco revealed.
A day after Pacheco was grilled for nearly nine-hours on June 4; the duo since then went missing to emerge only after the apex court passed the order to their anticipatory bail pleas on July 1.
The former minister has been presently remanded to seven days police custody following his arrest on Thursday under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 201 (destroying evidence) of Indian Penal Code in the case.
Monteiro, however, defends his move that the tour was to evade illegal detention. “My petitions were pending before courts and till it was disposed-off, I did not want to meet the police. I returned back the day Supreme Court granted me interim relief,” he said.
A former officer on special duty to Pacheco, Monteiro is suspected to have destroyed materials in Nadia’s house, which according to the Crime Branch team would have served as evidence in the probe.
He denied replying to this allegation, as his bail petition is pending before the apex court. He nevertheless disclosed he knows Nadia’s family for 20 years and admitted being their ‘family friend.’
“Not just Nadia’s family but I also know their cousins settled in Siolim, Verna, Benaulim, Fatorda and other places. I knew Nadia’s grandfather and father, as well,” he further stated.
Barred from leaving the State, as one of the interim bail conditions, Monteiro has in writing committed to fully cooperating with investigating sleuths.
