AUGUSTO RODRIGUES
Nearly a year after the Economic Offences Cell (EOC) of the Goa Police completed the Red Corner Notice formal ities against Myron Rodri gues, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is yet to apprehend the alleged mastermind of the over ₹150-crore investment scam that shocked Goa and Mumbai in 2023. Born in Mumbai but of Goan origin, Rodrigues, who started as a share market broker in Bombay, initially persuaded individ uals in Mumbai and later in South Goa to invest with him by promising huge returns. Though the police are yet to lay their hands on Rodri gues, his former wife Sunita Rodrigues and current wife Deepali Parab were arrest ed by the Crime Branch in 2025 after the case was transferred to them, and were later released on bail. Despite being wanted, Rodrigues has consistently evaded arrest and, accord ing to intelligence sources, “might have escaped to Europe from Dubai.” “He is most probably staying in some European country on a Portuguese passport,” dis closed an officer assigned to the case. “Since the Red Corner Notice to Interpol, Myron has not been found travel ling through any European airports till date. Interpol has a system of picking up fugitives at airports and, in all probability, he may be avoiding airports. It is easy to travel through Europe by road and train these days,” he added. “If not in some Europe an country, where it is not that easy for India to ex tradite their nationals, he could be lying low in some other country where such economic fraudsters opt to stay. Just because we have not got him in a year, it does not mean that we have giv en up on him. We will catch him one day,” said an officer attached to the CBI. Cash, gold and properties in the names of Rodrigues, his ex-wife, and his current wife have been attached. “We attached properties, cash in various banks and gold ornaments,” disclosed a source in the EOC, Goa. “He had given some of his properties to his first wife Sunita as a divorce set tlement. Those properties were attached too, as we were able to establish that they were acquired through the proceeds of this fraud,” stated the EOC source. Rodrigues, according to a senior officer investigat ing the case, duped many seamen who had depos ited money in an HDFC Bank branch where his wife Parab worked.
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“She shared information of the bank’s clients with him, and he, in turn, contacted these people and duped them into investing with him,” disclosed the EOC Goa officer. “From our investigation, he (Rodrigues) has duped many people from South Goa and, in my opinion, there could be many more who have still not come forward to file cases against him. More skeletons will tumble once he is in our net,” said another EOC officer. Rodrigues also invested in a real estate firm in South Goa, where he reportedly de posited ₹3 crore and withdrew ₹2 crore within a few days. According to an intelligence officer attached to the EOC, MHB Colony Police Station, Mumbai, “the investment of ₹1 crore in a private firm in Goa was attached, and part of it was used to refund one of the victims he cheated.” Apart from the EOC attaching property belonging to Rodrigues and his accomplices, the Directorate of Enforce ment (ED), Panaji Zonal Office, has stated that the cumu lative value of assets attached by it has risen to approxi mately ₹5.98 crore under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. “We are not aware if the attachments the ED is speaking of are the same as those seized by us or if they are differ ent properties. Whatever it is, who catches him is not im portant. What matters is that he is caught and the people he has cheated get their money back. The idea is to bring him to justice,” said the EOC officer
