Goa minister quits over conviction in slapping case -Governance Now

Goa minister quits over conviction in slapping case

The case dates back to 2006 when he had assaulted an engineer

GN Bureau | April 3, 2015

#Goa #minister #slapping #Laxmikant Parsekar #supreme court

Goa Minister Francisco Pacheco, who is also leader of Goa Vikas Party, resigned on Friday after chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar made a remark that it was embarrassing to have a convicted in his cabinet.

Pacheco was booked in July 2006 for assaulting Kapil Natekar, a junior engineer in the state power department. Pacheco's conviction and sentence of six months was upheld by the apex court earlier this week.

A spokesperson for the Chief Minister's Office confirmed that Pacheco submitted his resignation to chief minister Parsekar on Friday morning and it was accepted. Parsekar had told reporters on Wednesday that it was embarrassing to have a convicted minister in his cabinet.

According to Natekar, in July 2006 Pacheco had summoned him for not attending the telephone call of his personal assistant. In the chamber, Pacheco abused and slapped Natekar.

Meawnhile, Pacheco has filed a review petition before the Supreme Court. The review petition claims that the magistrate's court never examined eye witnesses. "There were several eye witnesses when I called the junior engineer (the complainant). The court has not examined even a single eye witness," the minister told PTI speaking from Delhi.

The complainant Kapil Natekar had named certain eye witnesses in his case who were never examined by the court, he said, adding that the case was "politically motivated".

Pacheco, a legislator from Nuvem, has a string of cases against him related to extortion, assault, bigamy and money laundering. He was sworn in as minister during a cabinet expansion in November after former chief minister Manohar Parrikar was elevated to the union cabinet.

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