Panaji, Sep 24 (IANS) The Directorate of Enforcement’s (ED) Panaji Zonal Office has provisionally attached an immovable property valued at Rs 4.20 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in connection with an alleged land grab case in North Goa, an agency statement said on Thursday.
The attached asset comprises a 5,000-square-metre land parcel bearing Survey No. 210/5 at Socorro village in Bardez taluka, including 11 subdivided plots measuring 4,086 sq. m. and a common area of 914 sq. m.
The ED initiated its probe based on an FIR registered by the Porvorim police on a complaint filed by a legal heir of the property’s original owner. The FIR relates to offences including cheating, impersonation, and use of forged documents, with the case being investigated by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Goa Crime Branch.
According to the ED, the property, originally owned by the complainant’s late father, was allegedly usurped through inventory proceedings before a civil court.
Investigators found that it was falsely claimed that the father of two sisters residing in Pune was the same person as the deceased owner of the land. Based on the court order obtained through this claim, the property was mutated in the names of the two sisters.
The agency said a power of attorney for the property was obtained from the sisters and their husbands on February 17, 2018, by a resident of Socorro. Further investigation revealed that Rs 9 lakh had been transferred through banking channels to one of the sisters on January 22, 2018, by an individual who later purchased plots from the property.
The payment was allegedly made before the execution of the power of attorney and more than a year before the inventory proceedings that purportedly created ownership rights.
The ED alleged that the land was subsequently subdivided into 11 plots without planning permission and sold between 2018 and 2020 to nine buyers through a chain of brokers. The sale deeds were executed by John Paul Valles as power-of-attorney holder.
Investigators found that five sale deeds executed in 2018 cited inheritance through inventory proceedings that had not yet taken place.
While the deeds reflected an aggregate sale consideration of Rs 63.65 lakh, the actual payments amounted to about Rs 1.49 crore, largely made in cash and through cheques with blank payee details. The fair market value of the plots sold was estimated at Rs 3.43 crore.
Earlier, the ED had conducted searches under Section 17 of the PMLA at eight locations in Goa and Pune on July 4, 2025, seizing digital devices and documents.
Further investigation in the case is underway.
–IANS
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