Goa Chief Minister laxmikant Parsekar on Friday skirted around questions about an absconding former Minister. The Police has not been able to locate the absconding Minister even a week after an arrest warrant was issued against him. “That he is not traceable is right. Everyone is equal before law and therefore law will play its role. If he was a Minister now, it would have been a different case, he may have had some kind of security. He has been relieved (of ministership), the law should follow its course. I would not interfere,” Parsekar said.
Francisco alias “Mickky” Pacheco, who was till recently the Minister for Rural Development in the Parsekar Cabinet, tendered his resignation after the Supreme Court upheld a High Court verdict sentencing him to six months imprisonment for assaulting a Government servant on duty. Pacheco heads the Goa Vikas Party (GVP), which is in coalition with the BJP at the Centre.
The Judicial Magistrate First Class (Margao) last week had directed the Goa Police to execute the warrant of arrest within seven days and take Pacheco in custody. On Friday, the JMFC extended that deadline by five days. Asked if the BJP, which leads the coalition Government in Goa, would continue to accept support of GVP, especially after its supremo Pacheco, is declared an absconder, Parsekar said, “Why do you want it from my mouth. You can interpret as you want. I would not like to comment on it.”