Panaji: A video of former Goa Tourism Minister Francisco alias Mickky Pacheco driving an SUV on a beach and then allegedly assaulting a water sports operator went viral on social media on Monday.
The post on Facebook said Mr. Pacheco ran over a parachute owned by Melroy Da Silva at Betalbatim beach on Sunday. After Mr. Da Silva confronted Mr. Pacheco at Utorda soon after the incident, the former minister and his friends assaulted him, and Mr. Pacheco repeatedly showed him the middle finger.
“I followed the tyre marks and found it parked at Utorda beach. When I went inside the shack and asked him why he ran over the parachute and whether he could drive his car on the beach, Mr. Pacheco and his three friends tried to assault me. He even tried to run his vehicle over me,” Mr. Da Silva said in his post.
Mr. Pacheco, however, claimed that he was only trying to pick up an ailing friend at Utorda beach village. “I was driving my vehicle only to pick up a sick friend at Utorda as ambulances cannot be driven on beaches. If I have broken a law by driving on the beach, I am ready to pay the fine to the authorities. Why should this man confront me and point a camera at me?” Mr. Pacheco told reporters on Monday.
The video also showed Mr. Pacheco sitting with friends at a beach shack with alcoholic drinks and then getting into a confrontation with Mr. Da Silva.
The former Minister also denied the allegations of assault on the sports operator, and said he will file a complaint against Mr. Da Silva on Tuesday.
Condemning the behaviour of Mr. Pacheco, Tourism Minister Manohar Azgaonkar on Tuesday said the police must take strict action against the former MLA. “If politicians start driving on beaches, people will follow suit. Nobody is allowed to do it.”
Meanwhile, the family of the operator has sought police protection. “I request the Tourism Minister to take action and provide safety to my family. If anything happens to us, I will blame the government,” she said.
Mr. Pacheco, known for his controversial behaviour while he was the minister for two separate tenures in the BJP and the Congress governments and also as an MLA, has several criminal police complaints against him.
