Pacheco spends harrowing days in courts, faces five more case

The Margao Sessions Court will rule on Pacheco’s bail application in Nadia’s suicidal death on Monday. But the NCP legislator, who liked to live dangerously and flashily in his six years as a minister, now finds himself at the receiving end as his brazen misuse of power stands exposed.

The police arrested Pacheco on Friday in another case, this time for forgery following a complaint filed by his wife Sara. He was granted conditional bail in this case, but has filed for anticipatory bail in three more cases.

Apart from the domestic violence complaint, Sara’s cases against Pacheco centre around two huge assets in their village, Betalbatim. Sara says Pacheco and his aide, Lyndon Monteiro, fraudulently transferred her properties in the name of his live-in partner, Viola.
Pacheco’s lawyers told the court that the police had him in their custody for eight days, but have hardly questioned him. Why should he be held any longer, they asked. The prosecution said they apprehended the former minister would tamper with the evidence in collusion with Nadia’s mother, Sonia, who is out on bail.

As a political figure, Pacheco had managed to get himself acquitted in two of the nine cases filed against him in the past, public prosecutor Sarojni Sardinha told the court.

On Thursday, senior counsel Surendra Desai and lawyer Amit Palekar withdrew from representing the MLA after they were abused by his supporters outside the court on Monday.