In a late development, police here on Wednesday announced a reward of Rs.25,000 for information about former archives and archaeology minister and convicted ruling coalition MLA Francisco Pacheco, who has been missing for nearly a month.
A local court has already issued a proclamation notice following the non-appearance of Pacheco, an MLA of the Goa Vikas Party which is a part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led alliance government, in court despite formal summons sent to him repeatedly. "The reward announcement of Rs.25,000 to anyone who can share the whereabouts of Mr. Pacheco has been made after the proclamation notice issued by the honourable district and sessions court," a police spokesperson said.
Pacheco has been on the run since the Supreme Court of India, last month upheld his conviction in a 2006 assault case in which a junior engineer attached to the state government's power department was injured. Two weeks ago, a trial court had issued a warrant to search 10, Akbar Road, the official residence of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, after the petitioner activist-lawyer Aires Rodrigues alleged that Pacheco was hiding there. The search warrant was stayed later that day after the state government appealed to the district and sessions court, arguing that searching Parrikar's residence would cause embarrassment to the country.