Rohan Harmalkar stood by the window of his luxury villa, overlooking the serene beaches of Goa. The waves crashed softly in the distance, almost as if trying to drown out the chaos that was about to arrive.
His phone buzzed. A short, panicked message lit up the screen:
“The ED is raiding. Be ready.”
For years, paradise had been quietly sold piece by piece under everyone’s noses. What looked like a booming real estate market was, in some corners, built on lies, forged papers, and stolen dreams.
The Face of the Operation
Rohan Harmalkar wasn’t some shady underworld don lurking in shadows. No, he was an independent political candidate once, a seemingly ambitious man with big dreams for Goa.
But behind the polished image was a web of deceit that involved not just a handful of fraudsters, but a network that allegedly stretched deep into government corridors.
The Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) raid revealed the scale:
They grabbed prime land across Anjuna, Arpora, and Asagao by creating fake documents, tampering with land records, and impeccable impersonations.
How the Scam Worked
The playbook was chillingly simple:
Find land where the owners were absent, old, or abroad.
Forge documents to “sell” the land.
Bribe insiders to manipulate official land records.
Transfer ownership — and resell it before anyone notices.
The money trail?
Launder the dirty money into legitimate-looking businesses, luxury villas, and high-end cars.
During the raids, the ED found original property documents worth ₹600 crore, along with an avalanche of forged deeds and benami (proxy) deals. In short, they hijacked the paradise.
Who is Involved?
The ED believes that something of this scale couldn’t have happened without help from the inside. Revenue officers, clerks, brokers — all allegedly played their part. After all, in a place like Goa, where old Portuguese-era land records are already complex, a little tampering can go unnoticed until it’s too late.
One officer close to the investigation said quietly,
“This is not just a scam. It’s an ecosystem. Everyone took their share.”
What Happens Now?
Investigations are ongoing under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Arrests could be next. Properties worth hundreds of crores are now under the scanner. Some owners are trying desperately to reclaim their land, but fighting forged records in Indian courts is an uphill battle that could take years.
Meanwhile, for ordinary Goans who watched their state turn into a playground for outsiders, this scam stings even harder.
It’s not just about money. It’s about losing their home, their roots, and watching the place they love get stripped away one fraudulent document at a time.
Final Thoughts
In scams like these, the damage isn’t just financial. It’s emotional, cultural, and generational.
As one lawyer fighting for an old Goan family put it:
“When you lose land in Goa, you don’t just lose property. You lose your bloodline’s history.”
The paradise sold behind closed doors must now be reclaimed — if justice has any chance at surviving under Goa’s bright, sunlit skies.
