MARGAO: The Additional District and Sessions Judge, South Goa, Mr Justice B P Deshpande on Monday granted conditional bail to Francisco Pacheco alias Mickky, who was arrested by the Crime Branch in connection with the Nadia death case. Mickky was consequently released from judicial custody.

Mickky was in custody since July 3, the day he surrendered before the Sessions Court, South Goa.
Mr Justice Deshpande passed an order observing that he is inclined, on the basis of present facts, to release the applicant on bail but on condition.
He said in his order that the applicant shall be released on bail in crime no 75/10, registered at Maina Curtorim police station and later taken over by the CID, on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 25,000 with one surety in like amount and on the condition that the applicant shall attend police station as and when called upon and shall cooperate with the investigating officer. The applicant shall not himself directly or through anyone tamper with the prosecution witnesses, says the order. The order states that Mickky shall not leave Goa without prior permission of the court and that he shall deposit his passport with the investigating officer.
Mr Justice Deshpande, in his 11-page order, observed that it is required to be noted here that in all the earlier orders passed by the courts it was observed that custodial interrogation of the applicant was necessary and therefore bail applications were rejected. By granting full term of police remand the said aspect of custodial interrogation is over or satisfied; however, records show that the investigating officer failed to make any progress with respect to the recovery of the so-called items, from the day the applicant/accused was remanded to police custody till the day he was sent to judicial lockup.
The contention in reply that the accused was not cooperating is not a ground to be given for failure of the investigating officer to make progress in the said case, said the order. The order also says that the applicant/accused is admittedly a member of the state legislative assembly and therefore he has to perform duties towards his constituency. The session of Goa legislative assembly is in progress and his presence in the assembly is required. Since the applicant is having firm roots in Goa and there is no possibility of he fleeing away at the time of trial or further investigation, there is no point in keeping him in custody, said the order. The public prosecutor, Ms T S Sardinha represented the state while Mr Anacleto Viegas appeared on behalf of Mickky.
Mickky has also been granted bail in forgery cases while three more applications for anticipatory bail will come up for hearing on Tuesday. The former tourism minister was admitted to the Goa Medical College and Hospital at Bambolim on Sunday late evening after he complained of chest pain.
It may be recalled that Mickky was booked by Goa Crime Branch on charges of abetment to suicide, destruction of evidence and culpable homicide not amounting to murder after his close friend 28-year-old Nadia Torrado committed suicide, allegedly by consuming rat poison on May 15. His close aide Lyndon Monteiro and Nadia’s mother Sonia have also been booked in the case. Nadia died on May 30 and Pacheco was arrested on July 8, immediately after he was discharged from a hospital where he was admitted following complaints of hypertension, urinary tract infection and jaundice.
Mickky attended a prayer service at Betalbatim on Monday after his release. Meanwhile, senior Nationalist Congress Party leader and former president of the party’s Goa unit, Dr Carmo Pegado on Monday welcomed the sessions court granting bail to Mickky.
Speaking to reporters Dr Pegado said Mickky should have got the bail long back, nevertheless we welcome that he has been granted bail and added that the law will take its own course. Reacting to Mickky’s bail, senior police official and Goa police PRO, Mr Atmaram Deshpande said that investigations in the case are in progress, however, he refused to comment further on the latest development.