The mystery behind the disappearance of Goa's former Archives and Archaeology Minister Francisco, alias Mickky Pacheco, has got deepened. A trial court in Goa on Wednesday issued a warrant, which allows the Goa Police to search Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's official residence at 10 Akbar Road in New Delhi, for the ex-Minister who has been missing for nearly a fortnight, since the Supreme Court upheld his conviction in an assault case, in March this year.
The search warrant for Parrikar's Delhi residence was issued after the petitioner in the case, activist lawyer Aires Rodrigues told Judicial Magistrate First Class (Margao) Bosco Roberts that he had information suggesting that Pacheco was hiding out at 10 Akbar Road. In a written reply submitted to the court, the official of the Colva police station who has been tasked with apprehending the ex-Minister-on-the-run, said that their investigation had revealed that Pacheco had left Goa for Delhi on April 8 and was booked at the Hotel Royal Plaza in the National Capital till April 12.
The police team led by inspector Uttam Raudessai, however, conceded that he was unable to arrest him, despite the best efforts. The search warrant, issued on Wednesday, is in addition to a fresh arrest warrant for Pacheco even as the trial court rejected the plea filed by the Goa Police to issue an absconder proclamation against Mickky Pacheco.
Pacheco, faces six-month imprisonment and a fine of Rs1,500 for assaulting a Junior Engineer of the State electricity department in 2006. Pacheco, who has been 'missing' since March 30, when his conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court, resigned from his position in the State Cabinet earlier this month, days after Chief Minister laxmikant Parsekar said that it would be "embarrassing" to have a convicted person in his team of Cabinet Ministers.
On Tuesday, in an oral observation while hearing the same case, the Magistrate had said that it was "embarrassing" that the State police could not arrest a person, who was a Cabinet Minister and a public figure until earlier this month. Pacheco has been embroiled in a whole range of cases other than this 2006 assault. His other criminal cases include culpable homicide, bigamy, assault and extortion. Pacheco is also being probed for illegal trafficking and money laundering by the US Government's Bureau of Diplomatic Security (BDS) and was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation in this regard in 2010.
Pacheco was also accused of abetting the suicide of his woman friend Nadia Torrado in 2010. However, some time after the 2012 State Assembly elections and the BJP's ascent to power, Crime Branch officials claimed that due to lack of evidence filing a closure report was imminent.