After a brief reprieve, former Goa minister Fransisco Pacheco landed in jail again when a local court on Friday remanded him in seven days police custody in connection with the mysterious death of his friend Nadia Torrado.
Judicial Magistrate (Margao) remanded in police custody the 46-year-old NCP legislator who was arrested yesterday by the Crime Branch after being discharged from Hospicio hospital.
Pacheco was booked by police on the charge of abetment to suicide and culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
His close friend Nadia, 28, had allegedly consumed poison on May 15 and after undergoing treatment in various hospitals in Goa, Thane and Chennai, died on May 30.
According to sources, the former tourism minister was shifted to a lock-up at Calangute police station last night after his arrest. He was treated like a normal prisoner and had to spend the entire night on the floor, they said.
"Pacheco did not utter a single word in the lock-up and did not even have his meal," a source said.
Pacheco was on the run since June 5, a day after he was quizzed by the Crime branch in connection with the death of Nadia. After a month in hiding, he surrendered before the sessions court on July 3, which remanded him in two days judicial custody.
{{/usCountry}}Pacheco was on the run since June 5, a day after he was quizzed by the Crime branch in connection with the death of Nadia. After a month in hiding, he surrendered before the sessions court on July 3, which remanded him in two days judicial custody.
{{/usCountry}}He was then admitted in the ICU of a government-run hospital after he complained of chest pain.
On July 7, a sessions court dismissed his bail petition terming it as an abuse of law and asked police to take him into custody once he is discharged from the hospital or when he is medically fit.
The court had considered submission by Crime Branch that his custodial interrogation is required.