Panaji, Dec 1 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached 19 immovable properties spanning over five lakh square metres in prime locations across Goa — including Anjuna, Assagaon and Ucassaim — valued at approximately Rs 1,268.63 crore, the agency said in a statement on Monday.

The attachment was carried out on November 27 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

According to the ED, the properties were illegally acquired by a group led by Shivshankar Mayekar, using a wide range of fabricated and forged land title documents such as Aforamento/Allotment Certificates, Certificates of Final Possession, Auto de Demarcaçao (Demarcation Certificates), historical sale deeds, gift deeds and other falsified records.

During earlier searches conducted on September 9 and 10, the agency had seized and frozen bank accounts and assets worth Rs 12.85 crore.

The money-laundering probe stems from an FIR filed by the Goa Police against Yeshwant Sawant and others for allegedly defrauding the Communidade of Anjuna in connection with land at Survey No. 496/1-A, Anjuna.

The accused reportedly secured fraudulent mutation of the land in their names using forged documents, before selling portions of it to third parties and generating proceeds of crime, the ED said.

The ED’s investigation identified Mayekar as the key conspirator, alleging that he illegally procured multiple land parcels across Goa in the names of relatives and associates. He was arrested on October 1 and is currently in judicial custody.

The probe has also uncovered four additional FIRs involving illegal land acquisitions in Anjuna and Assagaon. Several more land parcels are suspected to have been purchased through similar fraudulent means.

Information related to these properties is being shared with concerned enforcement agencies under the PMLA’s inter-agency coordination mechanisms.

The inquiry has revealed a systematic modus operandi allegedly adopted by the Mayekar-led group, involving identifying vulnerable or undervalued land parcels; fabricating title documents, including fake sale deeds; forged gift deeds and counterfeit certificates purportedly issued by Communidade authorities; fraudulently mutating these properties in the names of frontmen, and selling the land to third parties to generate additional proceeds of crime.

The ED said further investigation is underway.

–IANS

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