Occupants ordered to vacate premises within 10 days
PANAJI
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Goa has confirmed the attachment of 19 properties in the State – 11 in Anjuna and eight in Assagao, in connection with a land-grabbing scam.
A public notice issued for taking possession of these properties under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was issued recently. These properties, provisionally attached in November 2023, were confirmed by the adjudicating authority on April 15, 2024.
The ED has now directed occupants, if any, to vacate the premises within 10 days under Rule 5(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Rules, 2013 (taking possession of attached or frozen properties confirmed by adjudicating authority) and hand over possession to the agency. Any rent or lease income generated from these properties must also be deposited with the ED, it said.
“…all concerned are hereby prohibited and restrained until further orders of the undersigned from transferring or charging the aforesaid properties by sale, gift, mortgage, pledge or otherwise in any manner whatsoever and that all persons be and that they are hereby prohibited and restrained from receiving the same by purchase, gift, mortgage, pledge or otherwise in any manner whatsoever,” the order by Deputy Director (ED) N Asha states.
The notice comes over a year after the ED attached 31 immovable assets in Goa, valued at Rs 39.24 crore, as part of a money laundering probe into illegal land acquisitions using forged documents.
The 14 accused under scanner include Vikrant Shetty, Mohammed Suhail and Rajkumar Maithi, who along with others, allegedly prepared forged documents, including notarised deeds, succession deeds, and sale deeds, to fraudulently acquire the properties now attached. The trio among several others were arrested by the Special Investigation Team (land grab) of Goa Police probing the cases and subsequently bailed out.
The properties would be kept intact by all the concerned for further proceedings under the PMLA.
