The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) carried out raids at a number of areas in Goa in reference to a probe into an alleged “main land rip-off” and stated it uncovered property paperwork estimated to be valued at over Rs 1,000 crore, together with solid title deeds.
The search operations have been carried out below the Prevention of Cash Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) at a number of areas in Goa on Thursday and Friday. The searches have been carried out based mostly on intelligence and subsequent monetary investigation in a case.
An official stated on situation of anonymity that one Rohan Harmalkar, who contested as an Impartial within the 2022 Goa Meeting election after he was denied a ticket by the BJP, was allegedly the “key mastermind” behind the “rip-off”. The official alleged that Harmalkar and associates resorted to a “large-scale conspiracy to illegally acceptable land belonging to rightful house owners via fraudulent means together with impersonation, creation of faux paperwork and tampering with income information”.
“These properties, initially owned by people and household estates, have been unlawfully offered with out their consent, inflicting critical monetary and authorized misery to such victims,” the official stated.
Harmalkar was beforehand named in a case by the Goa Police’s Particular Investigation Crew (SIT) probing land grabbing circumstances within the state.
In line with the ED, the searches on Thursday and Friday uncovered “incriminating property paperwork, the present market worth of which exceeds Rs 1,000 crore, together with solid title deeds, indicating manipulation of land information and fraudulent transfers of high-value land parcels spanning a number of lakhs of sq. meters in prime vacationer hotspots like Anjuna, Arpora, and Assagao in Bardez Taluka.” “Moreover, authentic paperwork of immovable properties value greater than Rs 600 crore have been seized through the search motion,” the official stated.
“It was discovered through the search that the proceeds of crime generated have been additional laundered via numerous people and benami entities and at last invested into actual property, luxurious autos and different high-value property. Additional investigation is ongoing to hint the cash path, establish different beneficiaries, and the roles of different individuals, together with authorities officers related with the method of unlawful property transactions,” the official added.
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The Goa authorities shaped an SIT on June 15, 2022 to analyze circumstances of unlawful land switch and land grabbing utilizing solid paperwork. The SIT probed 44 FIRs involving greater than 100 properties — almost 1.5 lakh sq. metres of land — and made 56 arrests (till December 2024), together with some officers from the Archives Division. The state authorities appointed a Fee of Inquiry headed by former Bombay Excessive Courtroom choose Justice V Okay Jadhav (Retd) on September 9, 2022 to probe land grabbing circumstances.
In December 2024, The Indian Specific had completely reported the findings of the report of the Fee of Inquiry. The Inquiry report detailed how authorities information had been tampered with in a “systematic and organised” method and solid sale deeds with Portuguese-era calligraphy have been inserted into the information, allegedly “in connivance with the employees of the Directorate of Archives and Archaeology”.