Searching Manohar Parrikar's house will embarrass nation, claims Goa govt

Panaji: A Goa court has stayed a warrant issued by a lower court to search the official residence of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in Delhi to trace convicted former state minister Francisco ‘Miccky’ Pacheco as the state government held that execution of the order will be an embarrassment to the nation. [caption id=“attachment_2209786” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. AFP[/caption] Pacheco has been convicted for assaulting a junior engineer. Seeking a stay on the lower court’s order on warrant last night, the BJP-led government submitted in the district court that searching the official residence of the Defence Minister would cause an “embarrassment to the nation.” The state made the submission before the district court while challenging the order of Judicial Magistrate First Class who had issued the warrant to search 10, Akbar Road residence of Parrikar. Hours after JMFC, Bosco Roberts, issued the warrant to search 10, Akbar Road residence of Parrikar, district judge P V Sawaikar stayed its execution on the state government’s appeal that the police cannot search Parrikar’s house since it is a military property. Additional Public Prosecutor Mahesh Amonkar, appearing on behalf of the state, also told the court that “such a warrant would be embarrassment to the Defence Minister, the Prime Minister and the nation.” He also said that there was no need for a separate search warrant for police as they have already been asked to arrest Pacheco. Social activist and lawyer Aires Rodrigues had last week approached the JMFC, Margao, submitting that Goa police are not doing enough to track Pacheco and that there was “information” that Pacheco was “hiding” at 10, Akbar Road. Rodrigues, filing intervention application in the court today, objected to government lawyer Amonkar appearing on behalf of the state. He said Amonkar has been appointed as a High Court lawyer by government and is not authorised to represent the state in district court. The court fixed the next hearing in the case on 27 April. The JMFC had issued a warrant of arrest against Pacheco, chief of Goa Vikas Party, a partner in the BJP-led government in the state, on April 9 as he has to undergo a six-month sentence for assaulting a junior engineer of the Electricity Department in 2006. The warrant was later extended by another five days, which ended yesterday. The former Rural Development Agency Minister had filed a review petition in the apex court against his conviction, which is yet to be admitted. PTI