Pacheco may have got fake medical certificates: prosecution
By IANSTuesday, July 6, 2010
PANAJI - Government doctors may have issued bogus medial certificates to ensure that former Goa minister Mickky Pacheco, an accused in a culpable homicide case involving his alleged lover’s death, skipped judicial custody, the prosecution alleged Tuesday.
Public prosecutor Sarojini Saldanha told the Margao District and Sessions Court during a plea for interim bail that the medical certificates should be immediately examined for genuineness and a medical board be constituted to examine Pacheco, who surrendered last week after evading the police for nearly a month.
“Only when the applicant was remanded to judicial custody, he complained of sickness and got admitted in ICU, which is suspicious,” Sarojini said, suggesting that Pacheco could be faking illness.
Pacheco was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of the government-run Hospicio in south Goa, hours after he was ordered to spend two days in judicial custody. Pacheco claimed he was suffering from hypertension and jaundice, after which he was admitted to ICU for observation.
“In the interim bail application, there was no reference to any kind of sickness which the applicant was ailing from. So where have the sicknesses come from suddenly?” the prosecutor asked.
“The accused should be referred to a medical board as the certificates given by doctors from Hospicio hospital are suspicious. Alternatively, the medical certificates should be examined to check their veracity,” the prosecution said.
It added that custodial interrogation of the former tourism minister was imperative as there could be others involved in the suspicious death of 28-year-old Nadia Torrado, allegedly Pacheco’s lover.
Pacheco, a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislator, and his aide Lyndon Monteiro have been booked for culpable homicide. The Supreme Court has already rejected Pacheco’s anticipatory bail application.
