PANAJI
As Goa Police’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) leaps forward with every arrest made in the State’s mega land scam, an ongoing probe has exposed a systematic pattern used by kingpin Muhammad Sohail to forge government records.
Sohail enjoyed support from some officials in related departments that ensured his criminal actions were executed without obstacle. Highly placed sources told The Goan that Sohail replaced the original documents from confidential records in the Department of Archives with forged papers. How he managed to match the forged papers with the old Portuguese manuscripts has startled all. Dipping forged papers in coffee liquid kept him away from the eyes of the law until an expose two months ago.
"Sohail peeled off the original scripts handwritten in the Portuguese language and replaced them with the coffee-dipped forged documents. These were positioned in such a manner that it did not give an iota of doubt regarding any tamper with the original records," an officer said. However, the major discrepancy in the age of the false landowners landed the mastermind in the police net along with two staff (now suspended) from the Archives Department.
Currently, on bail, Sohail has supposedly confessed he had an army of information-gathering agents across various locations in the State who leaked details of abandoned plots. Form 3 and Form 9 of Goa Land Records strengthened data collection.
While 15 persons are booked by the SIT (Land Grab) -- some of whom are currently on conditional bail -- more arrests are likely in the coming days. The SIT has not ruled out the involvement of government officials from departments other than the Archives. In addition to these, police are on the lookout for around four absconders.
