Panaji, Dec 1 (LatestNewsX) — The Enforcement Directorate (ED) announced that it has, by provisional order, taken control of 19 immovable assets covering more than 500,000 square metres in Goa’s most sought‑after locations, including Anjuna, Assagaon and Ucassaim. Those properties are valued at roughly Rs 1,268.63 crore. The seizure was carried out on 27 November under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
According to the ED, the assets were obtained illegally by a syndicate led by Shivshankar Mayekar. The group used a wide array of fabricated documents—Aforamento/Allotment Certificates, Certificates of Final Possession, Auto de Demarcaçao, old sale deeds, gift deeds and other falsified records—to give the transactions legal cover.
Earlier searches on 9 and 10 September had already led to the confiscation of bank accounts and assets worth about Rs 12.85 crore.
The money‑laundering investigation began after the Goa Police filed an FIR against Yeshwant Sawant and others for allegedly defrauding the Communidade of Anjuna over land listed as Survey No. 496/1‑A. The accused reportedly obtained a fraudulent mutation of the land in their names using forged documents, then sold portions to third parties and pocketed the proceeds of crime, the ED said.
Mayekar was identified as the chief conspirator. He was arrested on 1 October and is currently in judicial custody.
The probe has also uncovered four additional FIRs concerning illegal land acquisitions in Anjuna and Assagaon, and more parcels are suspected of having been purchased through similar fraudulent means.
Information about these properties is being shared with relevant enforcement agencies under the PMLA’s inter‑agency coordination framework.
The investigation has revealed a systematic modus operandi adopted by the Mayekar group: targeting vulnerable or undervalued parcels, forging title documents—including fake sale deeds, counterfeit gift deeds and bogus certificates purportedly issued by Communidade authorities—feigning the mutation of these properties in the names of frontmen, and then selling the land to third parties to generate further proceeds of crime.
The ED said that the investigation is ongoing.
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