Chief minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday said Goa has become a hotbed of fraudulent land deals, which prompted him to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into the matter a day earlier. He said the dealings involved a “huge scam”.
“There are many police complaints about the fraudulent sale of land. The archaeology department has also filed similar cases...the registration department has received complaints about the sale of land with forged documents. There are around 60-70 cases,” Sawant said.
He added government land has been transferred in some cases. “All these cases will be given to the SIT... [to] conduct a thorough investigation,” said Sawant. He added many of the cases pertained to coastal areas.
The SIT was constituted late on Wednesday night to look into cases of “illegal land grabbing or transfer”.
Sawant said they were cracking down on increasing cases of sale of properties by impersonating the long dead original owners. “Goa being one of the most sought-after destinations has been the target of criminals involved in illegal land grabbing. We will leave no stone unturned to protect Goa’s land and the interest of Goans.”
Sawant said the SIT has been constituted to take swift action. “I appeal to the people to come forward and approach the SIT to report illegal land grabbing and transfer cases.”
{{/usCountry}}Sawant said the SIT has been constituted to take swift action. “I appeal to the people to come forward and approach the SIT to report illegal land grabbing and transfer cases.”
{{/usCountry}}Police superintendent Nidhin Valsan is leading the SIT, which also includes officials from the revenue, archaeology, and registrar offices.
In 2018, revenue minister Rohan Khaunte proposed the idea of Aadhaar based alerts to prevent land fraud but the plan was not executed.
A series of fraudulent property dealings have been reported from Goa. In 2013, an imposter sold a piece of prime land in Goa’s upscale Porvorim area along with the ancestral house of Otilia Mascarenhas, a former Indian hockey captain. Mascarenhas’s dead uncle was impersonated for the fraud. The property was sold twice to different buyers. The uncle passed away in 2002, but the sale deeds showed he sold the property in 2013. At least three similar cases came to light later.