PANJIM: Padmashree awardee Remo Fernandes, booked for allegedly verbally abusing a minor girl, arrived in Goa on Friday morning a shor time before his anticipatory bail plea was scheduled to be heard before the Children’s Court.
His counsel, Rajeev Gomes, told Court President Vandana Tendulkar that his client had landed in Goa to join the investigation. The singer also withdrew the intervention petition that sought permission to submit certain facts about the case to the court.
“We have no objection to this court monitoring the case,” Gomes told the court while informing of withdrawing the intervention plea.
The court adjourned the application for arguments to January 5 after the public prosecutor sought time to reply to the anticipatory bail application.
Pleading innocence in his 11-page plea, the 62-year-old Portuguese national claimed he was being falsely implicated in the case. He alleged that accident victim Helen D’Souza’s sister had demanded Rs 3 lakh from him, as against the Rs 50,000 he had offered as compensation.
In his affidavit filed along with the fresh application, Remo said that the core thrust in his music has essentially been a fight against corruption, drugs, women’s exploitation and other ills that afflict Goa and India.
Admitting to his Portuguese nationality, he mentioned that he is a native of Goa and has several properties in the State. “He has his family members in Goa and roots in Goa. He also has business interests in Goa and India,” the petition says.
Remo had left for a European tour on December 7, 2015, a week after his son Jonah’s car knocked down the girl at Mapusa. The father-son duo had visited Helen in the Goa Medical College and it is there that he allegedly abused the girl verbally.
