MARGAO
Over two years after the duo were discharged by the Margao Chief Judicial Magistrate, the 2009 Majorda casino case has back come to haunt former minister Mickky Pacheco and Mathew Diniz, a resident of Colva.
Mickky and Mathew appeared in the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class, Ashwini Khandolkar on Thursday morning following summons issued by the Court for appearance in the case. This follows a chargesheet filed by the investigating agency, Crime Branch against the duo in the court pertaining to the 2009 case.
When the matter came up for hearing before the Judicial Magistrate, Mathew’s lawyer, Vivek Naik drew the attention of the Judge to the fact that his client as well as the co-accused Mickky have already been discharged in the Majorda casino case by Chief Judicial Magistrate, Margao Kalpana Gauns way back on December 7, 2015. He wondered how come the same case has come back in the court of law after his client already stands discharged in the case.
Assistant Public Prosecutor, Coleman Rodrigues, however, pointed out to the court that he has no idea whether the CJM had in the past discharged the duo for the same offences or for different offences concerning the case. APP Coleman later said the defence lawyers can put in writing before the court that the duo have been discharged in the case.
The brief facts of the case mentioned in the chargesheet stated that between the intervening night of May 30-31, 2009 at Casino Treasurers at Majorda beach, the two accused along with 10 other unknown persons with the common object criminally trespassed into the casino without purchasing the tickets and while playing on the roulette table, accused Mickky placed a plastic bag containing currency notes demanding that currency should be accepted as a bet, which was not accepted by the dealers unless they were exchanged into casino chips.
The complaint stated that Mickky intimated the dealers to spin the roulette which was done under duress and further claimed that he had won and forced the dealers to pay him the prized amount.
Expressing surprise over the chargesheet filed by the Crime Branch, Mickky sought to know whether one can be tried for the same offence twice and that too when he and Mathew have been already discharged by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Margao in December 2015. “Our lawyers would file the order of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Margao discharging him and Mathew as well as the dismissal of the revision petition,” Mickky said.
Duo were discharged by Margao CJM in the same case in 2015
MARGAO: On December 7, 2015, the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Margao Kalpana Gauns had discharged former minister Mickky Pacheco and co-accused Mathew Diniz in the 2009 Majorda casino case.
In that case, the Crime Branch had filed a chargesheet against Mickky and Mathew for allegedly assaulting and threatening to kill the manager of the Majorda casino Capt Gerard Fernandes in 2009. The investigating agency had charged the duo under Sections 326 for causing grievous hurt, 341 for wrongful restraint and 506 (II) for criminal intimidation of the Indian Penal Code.
The duo were accused for entering into the casino at about 1.45 am and had an altercation with the casino staff regarding restrictions on timing and limits.
The lawyers representing Mickky and Mathew, Adv Srikant Nayak and Adv Anacleto Viegas had argued before the court in 2015 that the sections invoked by the police were non-cognizable in nature, adding that the police had conducted further investigations into the case without permission of the court.
