Court seeks report on alleged VIP treatment to Pacheco in jail

He is currently undergoing sentence at the Sada sub-jail for assaulting a junior engineer from the electricity department

A Goa court has sought report from jail authorities here over allegations that VIP treatment was being given to former minister Fransisco Miccky Pacheco who is currently undergoing sentence at the Sada sub-jail for assaulting a junior engineer from the electricity department.

Principal South Goa District and Sessions Judge Nutan Sardessai last evening sought a report from the Superintendent of Sada Jail, Gaurish Shankhwalkar, on the complaint filed by social activist and advocate Aires Rodrigues over the alleged VIP treatment being given to the Goa Vikas Party leader.

Taking cognisance of the complaint filed by Rodrigues that Sada jail authorities were violating prison rules to make Pachec's stay in jail comfortable, Judge Sardessai directed that the report be submitted to her within a week through the Inspector General of Prisons, Elvis Gomes.

Rodrigues in his complaint alleged that Pacheco, who went absconding for two months before surrendering on June one, is beinga allowed to use mobile phone and continues to refuse wearing jail uniform.

Prison authorities remain a mute spectator to this gross violation of rules just because he is politically very influential, he alleged.

Pacheco, a MLA from Nuvem, was forced to quit the BJP ministry led by Laxmikant Parsekar in April this year after Supreme Court refused to quash his six-month sentence given by Judicial Magistrate First Class, Margao in the 2006 assault case.