- Police custody extended till July 20
- HC judge recuses self from Pacheco plea
- Sonia remanded to seven-day custody
MARGAO, JULY 16
In another setback for Mickky Pacheco, the former tourism minister was on Friday further remanded to police custody till July 20 by Judicial Magistrate First Class, Margao even as Justice N A Britto of Bombay High Court at Goa recused himself from hearing his bail petition.
The JMFC also remanded Sonia, the mother of deceased Nadia Torrado, to seven days police custody – a day after her arrest by the Crime Branch.
Pacheco and Sonia were produced in the Magistrate’s court separately by sleuths of the Crime Branch on Friday noon. While the former minister was brought to the court for a further remand after the expiry of his seven-day police custody, Sonia was produced before the court for police custody after her arrest last night.
During arguments, the Crime Branch sought custody of the former minister for a further period of seven days to recover the missing items. The prosecution further contended that Pacheco’s custodial interrogation was required in view of Sonia’s arrest in connection with the case.
On the other hand, Pacheco’s legal counsel Adv Amit Palyekar, however, objected to the prosecution’s prayer for a further remand of seven days.
After going through the arguments, the JMFC extended Pacheco’s custody till July 20.
The court also remanded Sonia to seven days police custody after the prosecution argued that her custodial interrogation is required to recover the missing items and to collect further evidence.
Meanwhile, the former tourism minister today filed an application seeking permission from the court to attend the ensuing session of the Goa Legislative Assembly.
In his application, Pacheco stated that he has been issued a letter by the Governor to remain present in the Assembly during the session.
The Judge asked Pacheco’s Counsel Adv Amit Palyekar to cite the provision wherein court can grant permission to attend the Assembly session.
The court later asked the legal counsel to file a proper application since he did not cite any provision while seeking permission to attend the session.
Earlier this morning, when the matter came up for hearing, Justice Britto gave no reason for recusing the matter.
This is the second time that Justice Britto had recused himself from hearing Pacheco’s plea in connection with the death of Nadia Torrado.
The case would now be heard by Justice A S Oka on Monday evening.
