Lyndon Monteiro, a close aide of former Goa minister Fransisco Pacheco and co-accused in the case relating to the death of a woman, on Monday withdrew his anticipatory bail plea from the Bombay High Court after he was asked to remain present during the hearing of his plea. Monteiro's lawyer Amit Palekar said he has withdrawn the plea and legalities are being examined to decide further course of action.
Both Pacheco and Monteiro are missing after Crime Branch indicted them in the death of Nadia Torrado, who died after allegedly consuming rat poison on May 30 at a private hospital in Chennai. Pacheco is accused of abetment of suicide in this case, while Monteiro allegedly destroyed the evidence.
Justice U D Salvi today ordered that Monteiro be present in the court for the next hearing, which was postponed to June 17. Public Prosecutor Carlose Fereira had argued that the case was non-maintainable as it was filed by Lyndon's mother, Elvina.
Social activist and lawyer Aires Rodrigues also intervened during the hearing this morning pointing out to the order by High Court, which states that anticipatory bail has to be filed in person. Goa Police, while opposing Monteiro's bail petition, said that the activities of the company run by Pacheco were very suspicious and seemed to be cover for something else.
"There was no formal and structured functioning (of the company). Everything seemed to be working in a personal fiefdom of Pacheco," Crime Branch said in their application before the Panaji bench of the Bombay High Court. "There were no meetings and decisions of the Board of Directors. The activities of the company are very suspicious and seems to be cover for something else," they said.
Investigations reveal that Nadia was associated with Pacheco's company, Bresources Management Pvt Ltd, police said. Claiming that Nadia and Pacheco had "intimate relations", police said they have recovered a half burnt boarding pass which claims Nadia as 'VIP/spouse of touris..'. Further letters on this pass are burnt, they said.
Police further said that the role of Nadia's mother and husband in the entire case was suspicious and added that the mobile phone, passport and rat poison tube used by the deceased was yet to be recovered.
"The circumstantial evidence in the house and the room of the deceased has been destroyed by cleaning up," police said. Most likely, the family members or some person connected to this offence has cleaned the house or room of the deceased to destroy the evidence, they said adding that this was a very sensitive matter wherein a young woman had died in suspicious and mysterious circumstances. "On the contrary, Monteiro being in very powerful position is hell bent on impending the investigations and creating hurdles in the efforts of police to unravel the truth," police said opposing Monteiro's anticipatory bail plea. PTI
