Pacheco sentenced to one-year jail for assault

Margao: Benaulim MLA and former Goa tourism minister Francisco Mickky Pacheco was on Wednesday handed a one-year jail sentence by a Margao court for assaulting a junior engineer in 2006 at Betalbatim. Pacheco was charged for assault and deterring a public servant from discharging his duty (Section 353 IPC). In his order, first class judicial magistrate Devidas Kerkar said, “No person should use his political powers to commit offence or illegal acts, and, therefore should undergo maximum punishment under law to deter the accused not to commit such offence in future.’’ The court also ordered him to pay Rs 8,000 fine. According to the prosecution, Pacheco had summoned junior engineer Kapil Natekar of the electricity department to his office at Betalbatim on July 15, 2006 following a complaint of power fluctuation. PTI