Goa police register case against absconding ex-minister

Goa police today registered a non-cognisable offence against former state minister Francisco Mickky Pacheco, who is absconding despite his conviction in a 2006 assault case.
Social activist and lawyer Aires Rodrigues today filed a complaint in this regard with Colva police.
Rodrigues had earlier petitioned the court seeking an arrest warrant against Pacheco, whose conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court.
"The non cognisable case has been registered against Pacheco. We will have to inform the court that he is absconding," Superintendent of Police (Goa South) Shekhar Prabhudesai said.
According to him, police have been trying to trace Pacheco.
Judicial Magistrate First Class had issued an arrest warrant against Pacheco, which expired last Friday.

As the former minister could not be traced, the court gave five days' extension to Pacheco to surrender.
Pacheco, a controversial figure in Goa politics, had slapped an on-duty junior engineer nine years ago, for which he was sentenced to six months in jail by the Goa Bench of Bombay High Court in 2014.
The former Rural Development Agency Minister had challenged his conviction with the apex court, but had failed to get a relief.