PANAJI
A decades-long business career brought land-grab accused Suleman Siddique into contact with several legislators and ministers from and outside Goa, some of whom he described as friends and others as political adversaries. The revelation was made before the Additional Sessions Judge-I, Merces in his third bail application.
The accused also submitted that some of these politicians used their influence against him while he also denied allegations that he forged a sale deed relating to a property in Mapusa. In the 26-page order on Thursday, the court recorded Siddique's claim that he had developed contacts with “MLAs, MPs and other ministers, some of whom are his friends and some are his opponents who hate him” in Delhi, Maharashtra, Hyderabad and Goa.
"...due to some litigation between him and a local MLA in Delhi, a case under Section 420 IPC was registered against him in 2009. Similarly, in Pune also, a local MLA had insisted to register two false cases against him as he had not complied with their conditions," the Court noted.
Suleman also claimed that in the year 2016, he acted as middleman to exchange Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes of MLA, Ministers and other politicians in Hyderabad. "At that time, some people had forcefully grabbed money from him resulting in the local ministers filing two cases against him," the order further mentioned, quoting his submission. The accused, who is being represented by Advocate Sahil Sardesai, said that while conducting business he had followed all rules and regulations and paid income tax on his earnings. He also referred to a 1996 property transaction with late Deputy Chief Minister Francis D'Souza, claiming the latter had negotiated to purchase 20,819 sq m property at Mapusa Housing Board, Ekta Nagar. Siddique claimed he purchased the property through the Mapusa Sub-Registrar and that D'Souza, the landowners and Chief Minister had signed the sale deed. Siddique further alleged that a 2014 case under Section 120B IPC and a murder case the same year, as well as a 2016 attempt-to-murder case, were registered at the “instigation of the local MLA and Law Minister”. He said he had secured bail in these cases. Defending his stand, he also claimed that despite attending hearings in the murder case, police issued a lookout notice carrying his photograph and name, creating fear in him due to “a lot of political pressure”. He said he subsequently stopped attending court, resulting in non-bailable warrants and cancellation of his bail.
