Goa police today registered a non-cognisable offence against former state minister Francisco Mickky Pacheco, who was absconding after he was forced to quit the BJP-led government headed by Laxmikant Parsekar following his conviction in a 2006 assault case.
Judicial Magistrate (First Class) had issued an arrest warrant against Pacheco, which expired last Friday.
Social activist and lawyer Aires Rodrigues, who had earlier petitioned the court seeking an arrest warrant against Pacheco, whose conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court, filed a complaint in this regard with Colva police.
"A 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.
He said police have been trying to trace Pacheco, who is the chief of Goa Vikas Party, a partner in the ruling coalition.
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 the Bombay High Court in 2014.
The former Rural Development Agency Minister had filed a review petition in the apex court against his conviction with the apex court, which is yet to be admitted.
