Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: The North Goa District Court on Wednesday permitted the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) to interrogate alleged land grab accused Mohammed Suhail inside the Central Jail at Colvale, where he is currently in judicial custody, in connection with an ongoing money laundering investigation.
District Judge Irshad Agha, presiding at the North Goa District Court in Merces, approved the ED’s application seeking authorization to examine Suhail under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The court noted that notice of the plea had been duly served on both the accused and his legal representative.
In its order, the court instructed the Superintendent of Central Jail, Colvale, to facilitate Suhail’s appearance before ED officials within the prison premises for the purpose of recording his statement to aid the investigation.
The judge also granted permission to ED officers — Shubham Pensia, Assistant Director (PMLA), Rishibh Rohilla, Assistant Enforcement Officer, and Jai Prakash Meena, Assistant Enforcement Officer — to carry electronic devices such as laptops, mobile phones, pen drives, hard disks and printers into the jail to document the statement.
Suhail has been identified as a central figure in alleged illegal land transactions and was named in findings of the one-man land grab commission led by retired Justice V. K. Jadhav. He is accused of collaborating with associates, including Suleman Siddique Khan, to create forged documentation relating to more than 93 properties.
Earlier, Suhail was arrested by the Goa Police’s Special Investigation Team (Land Grab). Investigators have alleged that he targeted properties that were either abandoned or rarely visited by their original owners and disposed of them to buyers using fabricated papers.
According to the ED, Suhail has been implicated in several land-grabbing cases across Goa and faces multiple FIRs registered by the state police, with the agency describing him as a repeat offender in such activities.
