MARGAO
A little over two years since he was discharged in the Majorda casino case, former minister Mickky Pacheco on Tuesday has prayed for his discharge in the Majorda Casino Treasurers case, harping on the cardinal principle of law that an accused cannot be tried for the same offence twice.
When the matter came up for hearing before Judicial Magistrate First Class, Ashwini Khandolkar, on Tuesday morning, Mickky’s lawyer Adv Shrikhant Nayak moved an application seeking his discharge on grounds that he was already discharged in a similar offence alleged to have been committed by Mickky and Mathew in Casino Treasurers on the night of May 29, 2009.
In his application for discharge, Mickky contended that he has already been discharged by JMFC, Margao, in the criminal case No 22/5/2011/A on December 7, 2015, pertaining to the alleged incident that occurred on the night of May 29, 2009. He sought to know how the prosecution can chargesheet him again for an incident in Majorda Casino Treasurers that occurred a day later on the intervening night of May 30-31.
The former MLA contended that the present criminal case has been slapped on him with ulterior motive as he had always protested the wrong move of the ruling government. “On account of political rivalry, I had a surprise defeat as an MLA in the last Assembly election. I had always protested the wrong move of the ruling government in order to curtail me, the present has been slapped on me with ulterior motive,” he said, adding that the place of occurance and the time is nearly the same, but a one-day difference has been shown compared to the earlier incident in which he has already been discharged by the court.
Assistant Public Prosecutor Adv Colman Rodrigues has sought time to reply to the application for discharge filed by Mickky. Also, the second accused Mathew Diniz has also told the court that he would file his application in the matter at the next date of hearing. The Court would resume hearing on the matter at the next date in the first week of April.
