23 Jun 2022  |   07:31am IST

SIT gets one of the land scam kingpins

Md Shafi is his name, forgery is his alleged game with three earlier cases filed against him; The Karnataka man has been living in Goa for quite some time and charged with forging documents without the owners’ knowledge

Team Herald

PANJIM: The ongoing investigation into the mega land scam recorded the second arrest on Wednesday. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) said in a statement they arrested a 45-year-old man identified as Mohammed Suhail Shafi from St Inez, over the alleged involvement in the illegal land transfer through forgery.

The man from Karnataka, living in St Inez for a considerable period of time, is charged with forging documents of Indian and Portuguese nationalities on property papers without the knowledge of the actual owners and the government.

“He is one of the alleged kingpins in the illegal land transfer/ land grabbing by preparing fake/forged documents such as Portuguese/Indian on sale deed/notarial deeds, etc. The accused confessed his involvement in several cases of land transfer/grabbing,” SIT Superintendent of Police Nidhin Valsan said.

Mohd Shafi was earlier involved in three similar cases which were registered at Porvorim Police Station and Economic Offences Cell. The lone case at Porvorim Police Station, registered on October 20, 2013, was thereafter transferred to EOC Panjim and charge-sheeted on January 31, 2022. The case is up on trial before the Judicial Magistrate First Class in Mapusa.

The two other cases against him registered on February 11, 2014, and February 26, 2014, are pending trial before the JMFC Panjim and JMFC Mapusa respectively.

While more details are awaited, Mohd Shafi’s interrogation is likely to make further exposure to the ongoing land grab probe.

The SIT had made its first arrest last Saturday with Vikrant Shetty’s police custody ending on Thursday.

The government-constituted special team has so far registered around four First Information Reports (FIRs) with over 10 complaints under scrutiny. Simultaneously, the Mapusa Police have begun the process of handing over 21 land grab FIRs to the 29-member SIT.