South Goa Additional Sessions Judge P.V. Sawaikar on Wednesday allowed the petition filed by the Goa government challenging the search warrant issued on April 22 by Margao Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Bosco Roberts to look out for absconding-convict, the former Minister Mickky Pacheco, at 10, Akbar Road in Delhi, the official residence of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.
Recalling that last year the then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had publicly ridiculed and castigated the judge [P.V. Sawaikar] on the floor of the Goa Legislative Assembly without naming him as being incompetent with the government even getting him removed as Judge of the Goa CBI Court just months after his appointment, activist-lawyer Aires Rodrigues told The Hindu on Wednesday that he will challenge the order in the Bombay High Court.
Meanwhile, Vacation Judge of the Bombay High Court at Goa Justice G.S. Kulkarni at Goa on Wednesday referred to the Chief Justice the letter petition filed by Mr. Rodrigues seeking that the search for Pacheco be transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
ADVERTISEMENT
Alleging that the so-called efforts by the Goa Police to trace Pacheco was hogwash, Mr. Rodrigues has prayed that the search for Pacheco in public interest be immediately entrusted to the CBI as the Goa Police instead of arresting Pacheco have been aiding him. Pacheco, who until April 3 was Rural Development Minister in Goa’s BJP-led government, is now absconding as he has to undergo a six-month jail sentence imposed by the Bombay High Court at Goa on July 17 last year for having in 2006 assaulted a junior engineer of the Electricity Department.
The Supreme Court on March 30 upheld the High Court order while dismissing the Special Leave Petition filed by Pacheco. The Supreme Court on May 11 also dismissed his plea for further time to surrender.
ADVERTISEMENT
Bombay High Court at Goa refers to the Chief Justice the plea seeking transfer of the search for the ex-Minister to CBI