PANAJI
The Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) Panaji Zonal Office has conducted search operations at six locations across Goa, New Delhi and Chandigarh in connection with the ongoing investigation into the illegal grabbing of comunidade land, case against Yeshwant Sawant and others.
As per ED details, the searches led to the recovery and seizure of several incriminating documents and digital records. Crypto wallets containing cryptocurrencies worth 1.5 lakh approx USDT have also been frozen.
The latest action comes over a month after the agency raided 13 residential and commercial premises across Goa and Hyderabad, which led to the unearthing of an alleged Rs 1,200 crore land scam, with Sawant and several others named as accused.
In the current round of searches, operations were carried out on the premises of Umar Zahoor Shah and Neeraj Sharma, partners of M/s Thinking of You, and Rajesh Kumar, Director of M/s Purple Martini Entertainment Pvt Ltd.
During last month’s raid, the ED had seized around Rs 72 lakh cash and confiscated seven luxury vehicles, including a Porsche Cayman, BMW 650L, Range Rover, Mercedes-Benz, BMW M5, and Audi A6.
The probe revealed that the accused allegedly forged old documents to illegally mutate over 3.5 lakh square metres of prime comunidade land in Anjuna and Assagao in their names. These fraudulent documents were submitted to authorities to legitimise the transfers. Portions of the land were later sold, generating proceeds of crime worth several crores, the ED said.
