Panaji: Family members of Nadia Torrado
today alleged that Goa Police have been pressurising them to
make "untrue statements" against former tourism minister
Fransisco Mickey Pacheco and sought a CBI inquiry into her
death.
"Police under the pretext of carrying out
investigations have been harassing the petitioners and putting
them under great mental trauma by directly and indirectly
threatening them and pressuring them to make untrue
statements," a petition filed by the family before Goa bench
of Bombay High Court said.
Nadia`s mother Sonia claimed SP Mangaldas Naik
threatened to implicate her over phone, if she did not make
statements against Pacheco.
"This shows that there is not even a slightest
possibility of any fair investigations in the matter by Goa
Police and therefore to protect the interest of the
petitioners and in the interest of the justice as also to
guarantee and protect the fundamental and statutory rights of
the petitioners, it is necessary that the investigation be
handed over to some free and impartial agency like CBI," the
petition said.
Nadia`s family claimed that they have been willing to
cooperate in the investigations and have till date lent all
possible support to the police.
"However, the harassment and ill-treatment tactics
adopted by the police are totally inhumane and illegal rude
and violate the fundamental rights of the petitioners," it
said.
Sonia alleged that on the day Nadia died, a team of
armed policemen led by inspector Raju Raut and Santosh Desai
came to her residence and started ransacking the house.
"Police gave us constant threat of dire consequences
while they ransacked the house," the family alleged.
28-year-old Nadia died on May 30 in a Chennai hospital
after allegedly consuming poison.
Pacheco, who was interrogated by Crime Branch in
connection with the case, was named the prime suspect by the
investigating agency.
PTI
