Former Goa Minister Fransisco Pacheco, accused in the death of his close friend Nadia Torrado, will have to spend a few more days in police custody as a sessions court in Margao rejected his bail plea on Tuesday.
While rejecting the bail plea, Additional Sessions Judge B.P. Deshpande accepted the prosecution’s arguments that it was a serious offence and more custodial interrogation was needed.
“There has been no change in the circumstances from the time Pacheco’s bail was earlier rejected,” the court remarked.
Mr. Pacheco’s lawyer, Amit Palekar, said that they will now move to the High Court with the bail plea.
The 46-year-old NCP leader, who had surrendered on July 3 before the court after a month in hiding, was arrested soon after he was discharged from Margao’s Hospicio hospital on July 8.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had rejected his anticipatory bail plea forcing him to make himself available to investigating agencies.
Pacheco was booked by police on the charge of abetment to suicide and culpable homicide not amounting to murder in connection with the death of Nadia, who died after allegedly consuming poison on May 30 in Chennai.
