Goa NCP president booked for rioting, assault

Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) Goa president Jose Phillip D'Souza was booked by the police for assaulting a party legislator and former tourism minister Mickky Pacheco at a restaurant in Goa's Vasco town, police said on Wednesday.

Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) Goa president Jose Phillip D'Souza was booked by the police for assaulting a party legislator and former tourism minister Mickky Pacheco at a restaurant in Goa's Vasco town, police said on Wednesday.

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A non-cognizable offence was also registered against Mickky, after D'Souza accused him of bribing voters to vote against him in the forthcoming municipal elections.

D'Souza has been booked for rioting, creating unlawful assembly and causing hurt in connection with the fight in a restaurant on Tuesday night in Vasco, 35 km from here.

Mickky has also been booked under section 171 (E) for bribery, which is non-cognizable, a police spokesperson said.

On Tuesday, Mickky claimed that D'Souza and his supporters had assaulted him without provocation, when he was dining at a restaurant with his friends. D'Souza's supporters also damaged a car belonging to Pacheco's friend, which was parked outside the hotel.

D'Souza, on the other hand, alleged that Pacheco was in the town to distribute money to support candidates opposing his panel in the forthcoming municipal election.

Earlier in the day, the NCP top brass convened a meeting at which both D'Souza and Mickky were asked for their side of the story.

The NCP has three legislators in the 40-member Goa legislative assembly and D'Souza is also the leader of the party's legislative wing.