Land grab accused had challenged refusal to hear his illegal detention plea
PANAJI
The Supreme Court has dismissed as withdrawn the Special Leave Petition filed by land grab accused Suleman Siddique Khan, who had challenged the High Court of Bombay at Goa’s order refusing to entertain his plea against alleged illegal detention.
The three-judge Bench led by the Chief Justice of India pronounced the order on Thursday after Khan’s lawyer argued the matter for some time before seeking permission to withdraw it. “Permission as prayed for is granted. The SLP is accordingly dismissed as withdrawn,” the court said.
Khan had earlier approached the High Court in a criminal writ petition questioning the manner of his arrest by the Special Investigation Team of Goa police probing the large-scale land grab scam. He claimed the action was intended to divert attention from other major issues in the State.
On November 27, 2025, the Division Bench of Justice Ashish Chavan and Justice Sarang Kotwal dismissed the petition, observing, “We are not inclined to grant any relief to the Petitioner. The Petition is accordingly dismissed.”
Khan, while in SIT custody in Ribandar, had escaped in December 2024 but was re-arrested within two weeks in Hubli. The SIT had described him as a “hardened criminal” involved in multiple land frauds.
In April 2025, the High Court also dismissed Khan’s plea seeking transfer of the probe into his lock-up escape from Old Goa Police to the CBI. Khan had alleged that the escape was orchestrated by the police to divert public attention from the job scam.
His earlier attempts to obtain court relief had also failed. The Judicial Magistrate First Class, Valpoi, had rejected his bail plea in a 2021 land fraud case, while the Civil Court in Bicholim had declared 13 sale deeds into a 10,100 sq m plot in Tivim as “null and void,” naming Khan among the respondents.
