Former Goa tourism minister Mickky Pacheco’s officer on special duty (when he was minister), Lyndon Monteiro, a co-accused in the case of the mysterious death of the ex-minister’s girlfriend Nadia Torrado, was summoned by the crime branch for interrogation on Saturday. The Supreme Court had allowed Mr Monteiro anticipatory bail while quashing Mr Pacheco’s plea.
The Supreme Court had rejected Mr Pacheco’s bail application on Thursday stating that he might use his “political clout” to tamper with evidence. Matters would have been different, the special holiday bench had stated, if he hadn’t gone underground and instead cooperated with the investigation.
Mr Pacheco’s girlfriend Nadia Torrado had consumed a lethal cocktail of rat poison and anti-depressant pills and died on May 30. The NCP MLA, who had been on the run from June 9, has been charged with culpable homicide in the case.
On Friday, the crime branch had applied before the judicial magistrate first class, Margao, Ms Kalpana Gavas, for an arrest warrant in Mr Pacheco’s name. It was expected that Mr Pacheco would give himself up on Saturday since once the arrest warrant was issued it would open a new can of worms for him and the police could attach his property if needed as he would have been declared an “absconder”. Mr Pacheco’s counsel, Mr Amit Palekar, had indicated on Friday itself that the former would most probably surrender on Saturday.