PANJIM: Against the backdrop of two adjournments of Panjim Police Station attack trial owing to absence of a CBI prosecutor, activist lawyer Advocate Aires Rodrigues has accused the BJP of misusing its power in pressurising the Central agency to derail the criminal trial of the 2008 attack case in which incumbent MLA Atanasio Monserrate and Revenue Minister Jennifer Monserrate are the main accused.
It has come to the fore that CBI prosecutor was transferred out of Goa last month while no replacement has been made so far.
Rodrigues has stated that he would move the High Court of Bombay at Goa this week seeking specific directions to the CBI to immediately appoint a new Public Prosecutor to ensure that the trial of this case pertaining to serious offences against the State is completed in a time bound manner.
The case was earlier pending in the High Court for last seven years but Justice Manish Pitale of the Bombay High Court at Goa on December 22, 2021 dismissing the applications of the accused seeking quashing of the proceedings and directed that the trial should commence and be expedited as there was prima facie evidence against the accused.
Mapusa Additional Sessions Court is scheduled to hold next hearing on February 17, Thursday.
