BHC returns former Goa minister' anticipatory bail application

Panaji, Jun 16 :The Bombay High Court at Goa today returned the anticipatory bail application moved by tainted former tourism minister Micky Pacheco without registering it on record.

The sources in court said it had returned the petition to the applicant as it was not in order for want of certain certified documents.

Pacheco, who has been underground since he resigned as minister on June five, filed the petition in the High Court on June 14 alleging that he was framed in the 'family friend' Nadia Torrado's death case by his political rivals.

He was declared the 'prime suspect' in the case, while his Officer on Special Duty Lyndon Monteiro, who is also obsconding, withdrew his anticipatory bail petition as the court sought his presence for hearing the petition.

A manhunt was on to trace the duo, even as social activist Advocate Aires Rodrigues demanded the government to announce reward to those who provide information on the whereabouts of the two.

Meanwhile, the NCP here said the law would take its own course in the case against Pacheco, who was now undergoing 'test by fire' to prove his point.

It might be recalled the party legislator from Tiwin, Nilakanth Halarnkar, was inducted into the cabinet in place of Pacheco without portfolio, even as the NCP demanded allocation of the same portfolios to him.

But the chief minister had been dodging the issue, as he had not yet decided whether to allocate the same portfolio to Mr Halarnkar or reshuffle the cabinet. He was waiting for the nod from the party high command.