In Video, Former Goa Minister Drives SUV On Beach, Gets Into Scuffle

Panaji: A video has surfaced on Facebook that shows former Goa tourism minister Mickky Pacheco driving away in an SUV after running over a water sport operator's neatly laid colourful parachute on a beach in the coastal state.

Still recording the video, the infuriated parachute owner, Melroy Da Silva, approaches the former minister at a shack on south Goa's Betalbatim beach, 32 kilometres from Panjim. The water sport operator alleged that the former minister and three of his friends tried to beat him up and Mr Pacheco even showed him the finger.

Mr Pacheco said he had gone to meet an ailing friend at the nearby Utorda beach village and denied assaulting Mr Da Silva, who uploaded the video of their confrontation on Facebook.
 "...Mickky and his three companions tried to assault me. Mickky even tried to run his vehicle over me," Da Silva said on his Facebook post. "In spite of kids and tourists on the beach he drove rashly and headed forward," Mr Da Silva wrote.

Mr Pacheco told news agency IANS on Monday that he did not assault the water sport operator. "I was driving to pick up an ill friend at Utorda. The vehicle is a four-wheel drive. Ambulances cannot be driven on beaches. Anyway, if I have broken a law by driving on the beach, I am ready to pay the fine. Why should this man confront me and point a camera at me?" Mr Pacheco said.

The video shows the former minister sitting with some of his friends at a shack. Mr Pacheco is seen falling as he tries to fling a glass at Da Silva. The former minister said he would file a complaint against Mr Da Silva on Tuesday.

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Mr Pacheco has been in controversies in the past. He was also sentenced to six-month imprisonment in 2015 for assaulting a junior engineer of the electricity department.

With inputs from IANS
 

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