Political vendetta in Mickky case?
By Nisser Dias
nisserdias at gmail.com
SMS to 9422437029
The alleged involvement of the former Tourism minister and Benaulim MLA
in the death of a 27 year old lady has caught the attention of Goans
worldwide and different opinions have been voiced by many in the media,
television as well as on the internet on the aspect of police handling
the investigation. Today, after exactly two months since the death of
Nadia, have the police collected clinching evidence to link the death of
the ‘intimate friend’ to Mickky Pacheco is a still a question mark and
it will known only after the court pronounces its verdict.
The question that arises today, especially after the accused has been
remanded to judicial custody is, whether his further incarceration is
politicized? This doubt arises in my mind because of the move of the
police to seek more police remand in other criminal cases registered
against Mickky. Undoubtedly the disgraced legislator had to be
interrogated in police custody to probe the death of Nadia and even the
highest court in the country has upheld it. But it is also an open
secret that some witnesses were paid by adversaries of the Mickky to
make statements against him to the crime branch.
As far the custodial interrogation of the accused in the case of
culpable homicide not amounting to murder in the suicidal death of Nadia
is justified, but the fact that the police wanted him in custody for
investigation in a forgery case which registered last year was
stretching it too far. This clearly indicated that the police were
acting on behalf of some politicians who have some scores to settle with
Mickky.
If one goes by the track record of the police including crime branch,
this same accused was not arrested in the alleged threatening, assault
and extortion otherwise known as the gambling case filed by a star hotel
last year. Why did the police not initiate the process of arresting him
if he was required for custodial interrogation when the case were filed
and why has the necessity arose now. The police will not answer this
question but will hide behind the Supreme Court directions that jail is
not a must. An arrest however can also be a formality. This is a pointer
that police want the custody of Mickky for purposes other then just
interrogation. The ultimate motive seems to be to discredit him
completely so that he does not rock the boat of his political adversaries.
Undoubtedly he has stepped on the tails of too many politicians and now
these so called leaders are using the criminal cases registered against
him to hound him. In recent times, Mickky Pacheco had come to believe
that he was above the law and that he could get away with anything even
passing statements against the chief minister, Home minister and even
against the emissaries of the Congress High Command but in reality he
had bitten more then he could chew. And knowing our politicians - as
vindictive as they can be - were just bidding their time to strike back
and strike they did and did it hard resulting in the Benaulim legislator
spending 14 long day in police custody and another 3 days in judicial
custody.
However it does not seem that his incarceration has helped the Crime
Branch sleuths in their investigation into the suicidal death of Nadia
Torrado. The two mobiles sets along with the SIM cards, her laptop and
even the maid are still missing. The court too has observed that the
last 8 days of Mickky’s custody, the police did not even interrogate him
but they tried to seek his police custody in other criminal cases
against him. This approach of the police speaks volumes of the
politicization of the case.
At the same time Mickky while in power had also used these pressure
tactics and influence to go after his political rival John Fernandes.
The case of alleged rape was transferred from Colva police to the Crime
Branch. This is not the only incident; the former Tourism minister had
also used the Colva police to give protection to those involved in
stoning the house of producer of the controversial CD Dogui Bodmas.
Undoubtedly Mickky got what was coming to him.
Now the question, why is the government being choosy of transferring
cases involving politicians to Crime Branch. The alleged rape of a
Russian by a two-bit politician John Fernandes was transferred from
Colva police to crime branch, the controversial death of Nadia Torrado
was transferred to crime branch.
But why is the government not transferring the drug nexus case involving
politician’s son, police and drug dealers to the CBI even after the High
Court has requested it. Is it because of the alleged involvement of the
Home minister’s son? And why the hesitation even after Home minister’s
son Roy Naik has made a statement to the media regarding his innocence?
This case has even rocked the ongoing assembly session. Who is the chief
minister or rather the government trying to protect. Infact this was a
good opportunity for the Digambar Kamat to show the BJP that CBI is not
a Congress agency.
The fact that former dictator chief minister of Goa Manohar Parrikar who
had sent the CBI packing from the state is now demanding that they
investigate the case is a different matter. But it exposes the BJP
because when CBI arrested Gujarat Home minister for murder, the CBI is
bias but in Goa they are demanding a CBI into the drug nexus. But
whatever the situation might be, the government should handover the
investigation into the drug nexus to the government.
Lastly the Crime Branch has done the bidding of the politicians and they
interrogated disgraced former Tourism minister Mickky Pacheco in police
custody. Can the investigation sleuths in the Crime Branch ensure us
that the accused in the case will the convicted or will it add to the
long list of acquittals casting doubts about the investigating
capabilities of the Crime Branch officers? (ENDS)
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First published in Gomantak Times, Goa - July 29, 2010
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