Goa minister Mickky Pacheco, convicted of slapping government official, resigns

Panaji: Goa rural development agency minister Francisco Mickky Pacheco, whose conviction for assaulting a government servant was upheld by the Supreme Court earlier this week, resigned from the cabinet on Friday.

Earlier, on Thursday evening, Lyndon Monteiro, General Secretary of Goa Vikas Party said, "Pacheco will meet the Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and soon tender his resignation. He doesn't want to cause embarrassment to the state government."

The minister has been convicted for assaulting a junior engineer. Pacheco, an MLA of Goa Vikas Party, was inducted in the state cabinet in November last year.

The Supreme Court bench of Justices F M I Kalifulla and Shiva Kirti Singh this week dismissed Pacheco's special leave petition. The minister has been sentenced to six-month imprisonment.

An FIR was lodged against Pacheco in July 2006 by Kapil Natekar, a junior engineer of electrical department, alleging that Pacheco (who was a minister then too) abused and slapped him in his chamber.

Natekar had been called to the minister's office for not attending a telephone call by Pacheco's personal assistant.