Date: 21st October, 2024
The SIT Land Grabbing Scam has rocked Goa, with hundreds of arrests and property seizures, yet the main players seem to have disappeared, leaving everyone wondering: Who is really behind it all? The Enforcement Directorate (ED) stepped in, suggesting that this case is bigger than just land fraud. But despite the large-scale action, key questions are still unanswered: How was land grabbing cases decided? Why were some people arrested while others got bail? And when it comes to accountability, Why did officials wave the ‘White Flag’ when accountability was demanded???
Three Right to Information (RTI) applications was submitted on 23rd April 2024 to the SIT on Land Grabbing (LG), Crime Branch, and Home Department, seeking details on land grabbing cases. In response, on 15th May 2024, the Dy. Superintendent of Police, Crime Ribandar (LG) provided information stating that only 23 cases had been registered by SIT (LG). However, the response was incomplete and misleading, seemingly aimed at shielding the real land grabbers. Key details were either omitted or redirected—some information was passed on to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), while other parts went to the Crime Branch, despite the application being addressed specifically to the SIT (LG), Crime Branch, and Home Department. The application was shuffled between offices, and on 21st May 2024, the Chief Secretary’s office finally transferred it to the Police Inspector, SIT Land Grabbing, Ribandar, Goa.
During a scheduled meeting with the lower police staff and higher officials, I raised several critical questions. I asked Why Comunidade Properties Were Excluded From The Investigation?, and How They Determined What Constituted Land Grabbing Versus Cheating. I challenged their assumption that Just Because Someone Had Created Fake Documents, It Didn’t Automatically Mean The Property Belonged To That Person. I also questioned the ‘criteria for arrest’ under land grabbing laws. While the media boasted of over 70 arrests, only 23 cases were officially registered—it felt like we were dealing with no-man’s land.
I further pressed them: Had they even checked the title documents of these properties? Even if a property had no direct owner, shouldn’t it belong to the Communidade—whether through Aframento, Arandamendo, Kumeri, Alvara, Patto or other communal land systems? Their response was nothing but silence, until someone finally muttered that “the archives should take cognizance of the same.” To this, I retorted, “IF THE ISSUES ARE PURELY CIVIL, WHY WAS YOUR SIT (LG) FORMED?”
To my surprise, only a PI, DySP, and three police staff were present at this meeting—the rest had been transferred. These officers, not the CM’s loyalists, were left to carry the burden of a crumbling investigation, facing the anger and disappointment of the people with no real support from above. They deserved better, but instead, they were set up to take the fall.
The arrest of one of the alleged masterminds sparked celebrations across Sakhali, Bicholim, Sal, and Mapusa. But within hours, the investigation revealed that this man was actually a Gaunkar from a coastal village, belonging to a freedom fighter’s family. He had been running a business providing security staff but got caught up in the Land Grabbing Investigation because he failed to get a PSARA license; some of the cheaters involved in the land scam had approached this Gaunkar for security services, dragging him further into the investigation.
This Gaunkar knew every inch of land involved in the so-called No-Man’s Land Scheme but had to stay quiet to know bigger conspiracy. Just six hours later, chaos spread across the coastal belt. The very next day, he was granted bail, and top officials quickly realized that these weren’t No-Man’s Lands—they were lands owned by Gaunkars. The real story was that these ancestral lands were being targeted by outsiders, often referred to as the ‘Delhikars’. It became clear that the Gaunkars of North Goa’s coastal belt were the true victims of this scheme.
“The Title Documents of Properties”—a phrase that often leaves us wondering: how exactly is property ownership determined? Who owns which parcel, and for what purpose was the land granted in the first place? These crucial records, detailing the lineage of land ownership, are supposed to be housed in places like the Communidade office, the Revenue Department, or the Archives Department. But here’s the twist: in Goa, our historical puzzle is far from complete.
Did you know that we don’t even have access to all of our own history? Thanks to centuries of foreign rule, many of Goa’s vital records are either missing, incomplete, or scattered across the globe.
This issue was even mentioned in the 1975 Treaty on Recognition of India’s Sovereignty over Goa, Daman, Diu, Dadra, and Nagar Haveli. where Portugal agreed to return all the archives and documents related to Goa. But, many of these records had already been moved out of Goa. In return, India agreed to give back documents that didn’t relate to Goa but were still held here. So, while the treaty aimed to fill some gaps, it left us with even more questions: How much history have we lost? Are the title documents of our lands locked away somewhere we can’t reach? And who really holds the keys to Goa’s past?
Rcently, the Assagao case brought to light Land Grabbing 2.0, exposing how ‘Delhikars’ are buying properties and exploiting Goan homes and residents. The truth was laid bare by the Gaunkars, who revealed the shady dealings happening in Goa’s real estate market nowadays “Bazaar”. One of the key figures, Pooja Sharma, a Delhikar, exposed the Goa Government’s role in these transactions. Her revelations led to significant repercussions, including the transfer of the Director General of Goa Police in July 2024. This case has shed light on the darker side of Goa’s property market, raising questions about who is really benefiting from these land deals.
The true beneficiaries of this land-grabbing scheme are the ones who risk their lives for money—land mafias, drug mafias, party mafias, black money launderers, counterfeit currency producers, power brokers, and, of course, the politicians themselves. But the real kingpins behind the scenes? It’s the “collection agents” of these politicians, the ones who make sure the dirty deals run smoothly and the money flows without interruption. They are the ones pulling the strings and keeping the system in place, benefiting from the chaos while everyone else suffers.
Just like the current government has 12 chief ministers, each overseeing different streams of governance, the Patal Lok—The Underworld—has its own leaders for every category. Whether it’s land, drugs, political manipulation, counterfeit currency, money laundering, smuggling, or even cybercrimes, each stream has its own designated mafias, operating behind the scenes. They never show their faces, but they control the strings in their own domain.
However, true mafia power isn’t just about being a collection agent—like the infamous ‘lady don’ of Jungle belt. The lady don may have been influenced by ‘bhadwas’ (brokers) like Chintu-Pintu, who went to the Gaunkars and tried to manipulate them, creating a false narrative of conflict among the Gaunkars of Goa. But let me make something clear: We, the Gaunkars, have been here for generations. Those who spread provocative ideas, like Chintu Pintu, and tried to disrupt our communal harmony have failed miserably.
Goa ranks among the top 5 for financial fraud cases, as reported by Kamat’s Prudent Media today. Above the likes of Lady Don, Chintu, and Pintu, there are bigger mafias pulling the strings. It reminds me of one of my Mafia client, who always said: Promise them 100, give them 20 as an advance, watch where it goes, and stay silent until the 20 is spent and they come back. The entire concept of “Only One Mission: One Man, One Commission” mirrors the same flawed approach seen in other failed schemes under the Chief who is steering Goa’s administration.