Panaji: Bombay High Court judge Justice Nelson Britto, who was to hear the anticipatory bail pleas of former Goa minister Mickey Pacheco and his aide Lyndon Monteiro, has recused himself from the hearing.
Justice Britto filed an application before the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court to assign the case to another judge.
Pacheco went into hiding and filed an anticipatory bail petition before the Goa Bench after Goa Police Crime Branch questioned him for eight hours in connection his friend Nadia Torrado's death. Monteiro has also been questioned by the police.
In his bail application before the Panaji bench of the high court, the former tourism minister claimed that there was a "witch hunt" against him because of his "frank and forthright" comments on scams in departments directly governed by the chief minister and the home minister.
Pacheco, who is 'on the run' along with his key aide Lyndon Monteiro, has said that he would be subjected to "third degree" treatment if he was arrested by the police.
"The petitioner is known as frank and forthright politician and has commented on many occasions on his cabinet colleague, including the honourable home minister... The petitioner openly spoke about the excise scam and the drug racket in Goa. The honourable chief minister is also holding the portfolio of excise," Pacheco said in his bail application.
The 28-year-old Nadia allegedly took her own life by consuming poison on May 15. She died on May 30. Both Pacheco and his aide Monteiro as well as members of Nadia's family are in the ambit of suspicion, police say.
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