The long pending case against Atanasio Monserrate for the attack on the Panaji Police station has still not come up for final hearing. The other accused in the case include Jennifer Monserrate, Tony Rodrigues and several others. The High Court has directed the Addl Sessions Court entrusted with hearing cases against candidates contesting the Febriary 14th elections has still not completed the process. Though the cases are supposed to be fast tracked, the Pramod Sawant government and his law minister Nilesh Cabral are not Co-operating.
Since the Supreme Court order in December directing the Special CBI additional magistrate to fast track the case it has been postponed for one reason or the other. The latest development to the case is that prosecuting officer from the CBI has been suddenly transferred. The prosecuting officer has not been replaced. The case not been scheduled for hearing until Feb 27th. The fate of the election results of Babush Monserrate in Panjim depends on not whether he is voted or not. Even if Babush Monserrate gets more votes than Elvis Gomes, Valmiki Naik, Utpal Parrikar and others, he may be disqualified if the court finds him guilty. The election commission rule is that if a candidate like Babush or Marvin Godinho or Dayanand Narvekar are convicted they will not be able to contest elections for 7 years. This is conditional to their being sentenced to a jail term of 10 years or more.
Recently Lalu Yadav the former Chief Minster who is already in jail for the fodder scam has been sentenced to an additional 14 years in prison. Gopal Kaunda who owns Big Daddy casino is serving a sentence in Himachal Pradesh for alleged rape of a former air hostess. Meanwhile a case has been filed against Arvind Kejriwal for sedition for suggesting that Punjab should be a separate nation