In a setback for land grab accused Suleman Siddique Khan, the High Court of Bombay at Goa on Thursday dismissed his writ petition challenging his “illegal detention.”
In the criminal writ petition filed two months back, Khan had questioned the manner in which the police arrested him, alleging that it was only meant to distract attention from other major issues in the State.
Khan, who was in police custody under the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing a large-scale land grab scam, had escaped in December 2024. He was re-arrested within two weeks in Hubli, with the SIT describing him as a “hardened criminal”.
In April this year, the High Court dismissed Khan’s plea seeking transfer of the investigation into his lock-up escape from Old Goa police to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Khan had alleged that his escape was not a genuine attempt to flee but was instead staged by the police to divert public attention from the job scam. Speaking to the media during a court appearance, he had claimed the entire episode was orchestrated.
Khan had earlier suffered legal setbacks when the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Valpoi, rejected his bail plea in a 2021 land fraud case. Subsequently, the Civil Court in Bicholim declared 13 sale deeds linked to a 10,100 sq m plot in Tivim as “null and void,” in which Khan is one of the respondents.
