Rs1,268 Crore of Prime Goa Land Attached: ED Seizes Over 5 Lakh Sqmtr Linked to Forged-document Scam

Moneylife Digital Team 02 December 2025

Economy & Nation

The Panaji zonal office of the directorate enforcement (ED) has provisionally attached 19 prime immovable properties measuring more than 5 lakh square metres (sqmtr) across some of Goa’s most sought-after locations, including Anjuna, Assagaon and Ucassaim, in a money-laundering case involving allegedly fabricated land documents. The attached assets are valued at around Rs1,268.63 crore, ED says.

The action, carried out on 27 November 2025 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), follows months of investigation into what officials describe as a large-scale conspiracy to illegally acquire and mutate high-value land parcels using forged ownership records.

These properties, the agency says, were secured by a group led by accused Shivshankar Mayekar through falsified documents such as fabricated aforamento and allotment certificates, certificates of final possession, auto de demarcação (certificates of demarcation), historical sale deeds, gift deeds and other manipulated records.

ED had earlier seized and frozen bank accounts and other assets worth Rs12.85 crore during searches conducted on 9th September and 10 October 2025. Investigators initiated the probe based on a first information report (FIR) filed by Goa police against Yeshwant Sawant and others for allegedly defrauding the Communidade of Anjuna in relation to land at survey no496/1-A. According to the complaint, the accused fraudulently mutated the land in their names using forged documents and then sold portions of it to third parties, generating illicit proceeds.

The agency’s findings indicate that Mr Mayekar was the key conspirator and had illicitly procured multiple plots across Goa in the names of friends and relatives acting as fronts. He was arrested on 1 October 2025 and remains in judicial custody. Officials say four additional FIRs linked to illegal land acquisition in Anjuna and Assagaon have since come to light, with more suspicious parcels identified during the inquiry.

According to investigators, the group’s modus operandi was systematic. Vulnerable or high-value plots were identified, forged sale and gift deeds were created, counterfeit certificates purportedly issued by the communidade and the administrator of communidades were produced, and these documents were then used to fraudulently mutate the properties into the names of selected frontmen. The parcels were later sold to generate significant proceeds of crime.

ED says information regarding the additional suspicious properties is being shared with other law enforcement agencies through the PMLA information-sharing mechanism. Further investigation is underway in the case, it added.

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