This Article is From Apr 03, 2015

Goa Minister Mickky Pacheco, Guilty of Slapping Official, Resigns

Goa Minister Mickky Pacheco, Guilty of Slapping Official, Resigns

File photo of Mickky Pacheco, who has resigned as Goa minister

Panaji:

Goa minister Francisco Mickky Pacheco, who was sentenced to go to jail for assaulting an official, has resigned.

His conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court earlier this week.

"He doesn't want to cause embarrassment to the state government," a spokesperson of Mr Pacheco's Goa Vikas party said.

On Wednesday, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar had told reporters that it was "embarrassing" to have a convicted minister in his cabinet.

Mr Pacheco, whose party is an ally of the ruling BJP, was included in the Goa cabinet in November. He has faced allegations of extortion, assault, bigamy and money laundering.

He was sentenced to six months in jail for slapping a junior engineer in the state's Electrical Department in 2006.

The engineer, Kapil Natekar, had complained that he was summoned to the minister's office for not answering a phone call by his personal assistant.

Mr Pacheco, who allegedly abused and attacked the official, was first sentenced to a one-year jail term and a fine of Rs 5,000. A court set aside that sentence and released him "on admonition" but the High Court, taking up the case, overturned the decision.

The Supreme Court on Monday confirmed the high court's decision to restore Mr Pacheco's jail sentence.

Mr Pacheco has said that he was denied justice in the case.

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