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ED arrests key accused Rohan Harmalkar in ₹1,000 crore Goa land scam

The alleged mastermind Rohan Harmalkar is charged with defrauding property owners using fake documents and tampering revenue records across prime tourist locations in Goa Bhagyashree Vaswani The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday arrested Rohan Harmalkar under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), identifying him as the key mastermind in a ₹1,000 crore land-grab scheme that defrauded property owners through impersonation, fabrication of documents, and manipulation of revenue records. A PMLA court remanded him to ED custody for 14 days. Harmalkar, who unsuccessfully contested the 2022 Goa Assembly elections from Cumbarjua as an independent candidate before joining the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), is accused of illegally selling prime properties using forged documents without the knowledge or consent of the rightful owners, causing financial and legal distress to victims. In a statement, the ED described him as one of the key conspirators in the Goa land scam, stating that he orchestrated the forgery and manipulation of sale deeds for multiple properties. He also allegedly impersonated legitimate heirs, counterfeited government stamps, and used forged documents as genuine to unlawfully acquire land. Forgery uncovered in tourist hotspots The ED conducted searches at multiple locations in Goa last week in connection with the scam, which reportedly involved fraudulent transfers of high-value parcels of land in prominent tourist areas. During the raids, the agency seized documents related to properties worth ₹1,000 crore at current market value. These included forged title deeds indicating manipulation of land records and fraudulent transfers of large land parcels spanning several lakh square metres in prime locations such as Anjuna, Arpora, and Asagoan in Bardez Taluka.