JOIN USThe high court said on Monday that there was prima facie evidence to implicate Pacheco in the case, even as it ruled that the NCP MLA was at liberty to approach the courts again after his police remand expires on Tuesday.
Pacheco’s lawyers have also been directed to approach the appropriate courts seeking permission for him to attend the ongoing session of the state Assembly.
The crime branch, which has maintained all through that evidence had been deliberately destroyed by Pacheco, his aide Lyndon Monteiro and Nadia’s mother Sonia Torrado, told the court on Monday that crucial details had been erased from the five mobile phones and three SIM cards they seized from the former minister.
The phones and cards have been reformatted, public prosecutor Carlos Ferreira said, producing reports from the forensic lab. He said investigations into the 27-year-old’s death were at a critical stage and the police needed time to cross-check the statements made by Pacheco and Sonia Torrado.
It was also brought to the high court’s attention that Nadia’s mobile which she had used till May 15 – the day she consumed poison and fell critically ill – had been in use till June 5 when Pacheco disappeared. The police have not yet been able to lay hands on the young woman’s mobile, laptop, passport or the object of assault.
The lower courts on the other hand will pass an order on Tuesday on Sonia’s bail plea.