Team Herald
PANJIM: Close to 48 hours after his daring jailbreak from the Crime Branch lockup with inside help, land grab accused Suleman Khan alias Siddiqui remained elusive, leaving Goa Police with egg on their face as they hunted for him in Goa and Karnataka.
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As a consolation prize, the police brought back from Hubballi Indian Reserve Battalion (IRBn) police constable Amit Naik, who opened the lockup door and on whose bike Siddiqui rode pillion to get out of Goa. Naik was fired from service, arrested and remanded in four days of police custody.
However, the police brass failed to answer the biggest question of them all – how could Siddiqui walk out with Naik from a building which had other policemen on duty? Why was no action taken against the duty officer, who was reportedly asleep when the ‘great escape’ happened around 2.30 am on Friday? When asked about the action to be taken against the other Crime Branch officials, Old Goa PI Satish Padwalkar said, “The matter is being investigated.”
Apart from Naik, who surrendered in Hubballi on Friday night, 35-year-old Hazrat Saab Bhawannavar, the driver of the Swift car that reportedly dropped off Siddiqui to the old bus stand in Hubballi, was also arrested. The rickshaw driver who had initially helped Siddiqui to make two calls from his cellphone has been detained as well.
On Saturday evening, constable Naik was brought to Old Goa Police Station. According to sources, a police team had earlier taken Naik to the spot where the duo left their bike in Dharwad after they ran out of fuel. They reportedly hitched a ride on a rickshaw and made two calls from the rickshaw driver’s phone to reach a point where a Swift arrived within half-an-hour and picked up Siddiqui, while dumping Naik on the road.
The primary investigation has revealed that Siddiqui allegedly offered Rs 3 crore to Naik to aid his escape from the Crime Branch lockup. According to sources, Siddiqui promised to pay the amount after he had been dropped off at an undisclosed location in Karnataka.
The Director General of Police Alok Kumar has spoken of the likelihood of Siddiqui being hiding somewhere in Karnataka. The DGP said that a team has been leading the search operation to arrest the accused.
Siddiqui, wanted in 3 cases of SIT Land Grabbing and a proclaimed Offender in two cases of North Goa, was arrested by Crime branch SIT on November 12. He had been absconding for the past four-and-a-half years. He was in police custody in the Crime Branch lockup for land grabbing cases.
