Panaji: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized seven luxury cars — including a Porsche Cayman, BMW 650L and M5, Range Rover, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi A6 — along with ₹72 lakh in cash, following raids on a Goa-based builder in connection with an alleged land grabbing case.
Searches were conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday in Goa and Hyderabad, linked to Yeshwant Sawant, who was booked by the Goa Police in April for allegedly grabbing around 2 lakh square metres of comunidade (community) land using fraudulent means.
According to the complaint filed by the governing body of the Anjuna comunidade, Sawant and his wife Meenakshi allegedly forged land ownership documents and falsely presented them as genuine before the competent authority in order to illegally transfer property rights in their favour.
“During the search operations, various incriminating documents, cash amounting to ₹72 lakh (approx.) and seven high-end vehicles were seized, and multiple bank accounts/fixed deposits were also frozen,” a statement issued by the ED said.
According to the investigating agency, the accused had illegally mutated more than 3,50,000 sq metres of land in Anjuna and Assagao, using forged old documents that were submitted to the concerned authorities to facilitate the mutation process.
“A portion of these properties were 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 ₹1,200 crore,” the ED said.
{{/usCountry}}“A portion of these properties were 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 ₹1,200 crore,” the ED said.
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