New Delhi, Sep 10 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Panaji Zonal Office has conducted search operations at 13 residential and commercial premises across Goa and Hyderabad in the case of Yeshwant Sawant and others.

The searches carried out on September 9-10, in connection with the illegal land grabbing of Communidade lands in Goa, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

ED initiated an investigation based on an FIR registered by the Goa Police under various sections of the IPC, 1860, concerning the illegal acquisition of land belonging to the Communidade of Anjuna.

According to the ED, the “investigation and search operation revealed that the accused persons had illegally mutated more than 3,50,000 sq. meters of land located at prime areas of Goa like Anjuna and Assagaon, etc, in their names using forged old documents, which were submitted to the concerned authorities to facilitate the mutation process.”

Further, a portion of these properties was sold to various persons, generating additional Proceeds of Crime (POC) to the tune of crores of rupees.

“The total market valuation of the implicated land parcels illegally grabbed by the accused persons is likely to exceed Rs. 1,200 crore,” the ED said in its press statement.

During the search operations, cash amounting to approximately Rs. 72 Lakh was seized, and seven high-end vehicles, viz. Porsche Cayman, BMW 650 L., Range Rover, Mercedes-Benz, BMW M5, Audi A-6, etc, were seized.

Multiple bank accounts/fixed deposits belonging to the individuals involved in these transactions were also frozen.

Various incriminating documents related to these land transactions were also recovered and seized during the operation.

“The ongoing investigation is likely to expose a wider network of persons engaged in illegal land grabbing across Goa”, the agency said.

Further investigation is in progress.

–IANS

sas/dan