Goa's former Tourism Minister Fransisco Mickey Pacheco, booked in connection with the death of his female friend Nadia Torrado, was arrested today after he was declared medically fit and discharged from a hospital in Panaji.
Pacheco, who was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of district hospital in Margao town was shifted to Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) which conducted his medical examination and declared him fit. Torrado died after consuming poison on May 30.
A district court had on Wednesday dismissed Pacheco's bail plea ordering the police to arrest him when he is medically fit or discharged by the hospital. Police said Pacheco was shifted to Hospicio Hospital after the medical examination.
"The examination reports stated that Pacheco does not need active treatment and hence he was discharged," officials stated. The NCP legislator was arrested soon after he walked out of the hospital in Margao. "I am innocent. I am being framed for no reason," Pacheco told reporters.
The crime branch brought the former minister to their office at Dona Paula near here where he would be subjected to custodial interrogation.
Pacheco had been on the run since June 5 and thereafter surrendered before the sessions court on July 3. The Supreme Court had dismissed the anticipatory bail petition of Pacheco. PTI
