Goa's 'missing' ex-minister approaches SC, seeks more time to surrender

Goa's convicted former Archives and Archaeology minister Francisco Pacheco, who has been on the run for nearly a month now, has approached the Supreme Court seeking more time to surrender.

Justices Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla and Shiva Kirti Singh are on Monday likely to hear the petition filed by Pacheco, whose conviction in a 2006 assault case was upheld by the apex court last month, sources close to the former Goa minister said.

Following the apex court order, Pacheco has been missing since April 9 and has failed to respond to repeated summons issued by a trial court, which earlier this week, started the process of declaring Pacheco, a lawmaker from the Goa Vikas Party, an absconder.

Speaking to reporters at the state secretariat, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said the state government, which has been made a party in Pacheco's petition, will present the "correct position" before the apex court.

"It is true that he is not being traced... We are obliged to state the correct position," Parsekar said.

Police have already announced an award of Rs.25,000 to anyone who can share information about the whereabouts of Pacheco.

Two weeks ago, a trial court issued a warrant to search the Delhi residence of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, after the petitioner activist-lawyer Aires Rodrigues alleged that Pacheco was hiding there.

The search warrant was stayed later that day, after the state government appealed to the district and sessions court arguing that searching Parrikar's residence would cause embarrassment to the country.

Pacheco has a wide range of criminal cases registered against him dealing with extortion, assault, bigamy, money laundering and human trafficking.