The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has unearthed a massive land grab scam in Goa, pegging the market value of illegally acquired comunidade lands at over ₹1,200 crore. The land parcels are allegedly illegally grabbed by Yeshwant Sawant and others.

Acting on a police FIR, the ED conducted searches at 13 locations across Goa and Hyderabad, seizing Rs 72 lakh, luxury cars, and freezing bank accounts, while uncovering how prime plots in Anjuna and Assagao were fraudulently mutated using forged documents.

The searches were carried out in connection with the illegal land grabbing of comunidade lands in Goa under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The ED initiated the investigation based on an FIR registered by Goa police under various sections of the BNS concerning the illegal acquisition of land belonging to the comunidade of Anjuna.

The ED’s investigation and search operation revealed that the accused persons illegally mutated more than 3.5 lakh square metres of land located in prime areas of Goa, such as Anjuna and Assagao, in their names, using forged documents. These documents were submitted to the concerned authorities to facilitate the mutation process.

A portion of these properties was sold to various persons, generating additional proceeds of crime 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, ED said.

During the search operations, multiple bank accounts and fixed deposits belonging to the individuals involved in these transactions were frozen, ED said.