Convicted Goa minister resigns

Panaji: Goa rural development minister Fransisco Mickky Pacheco, whose conviction for assaulting a government servant was upheld by the apex court, resigned from the Cabinet on Friday saying he did not want to cause further embarrassment to the state government.

Panaji, April 3: Goa’s rural development minister Francisco Mickky Pacheco, whose conviction for assaulting a government servant was upheld by the Supreme Court, resigned from the Cabinet Friday. saying he did not want to cause further embarrassment to the BJP- led government in the state.

Pacheco, belonging to the Goa Vikas Party, said he had sent his resignation to the office of chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar, currently in Bengaluru to attend the BJP’s national executive.

The CMO said Pacheco’s resignation was accepted and forwarded it to the governor. Pacheco was inducted in the state Cabinet in November last year after former chief minister Manohar Parrikar moved to the Centre as defence minister. A legislator from Nuvem segment, he also was in charge of archaeology and archives in the 12- member Cabinet.

Pacheco ran into trouble after the Supreme Court dismissed his petition seeking stay on the conviction order by the Goa bench of the Bombay high court for slapping a government servant on duty in July 2006. A SC bench comprising Justices F. M. I. Kalifulla and Shiva Kirti Singh this week dismissed the special leave petition of Pacheco against the July 17, 2014 high court verdict. As per the order, he will have to undergo six months imprisonment.

The Goa bench of the high court had set aside the verdict of a revisional court, which “brought down” the conviction of the MLA under IPC Section 323 from the harsher Section 353 and ordered his release on ‘ admonition’ under the Probation of Offenders Act.