Some 10 others involved in this now notorious case have applied for anticipatory bail. Several others are likely to be nabbed too. From this web of property fraud and deceit emerges the unfortunate story of a family that lost more than just the dream to own their own piece of land in Goa.
In April 2014, 52-year-old Satish Mardolkar reached snapping point, when he lost his younger sister who had also
invested in the Serula Comunidade in 1996. Though Belgaum-based Mardolkar was unavailable for comment, Herald
Review managed to speak to a close relative of his to reconstruct the sequence of events that got them embroiled in the Serula case, in which they lost practically all they had. In 2003, Mardolkar’s brother-in-law committed suicide, the family alleges, after Serula Comunidade attorney Agnelo Lobo appropriated his money, promising him a Serula plot that was
never transferred to his name. Unfortunately for Mardolkar, the property “deal” cost him his savings. Today, he is struggling to make ends meet as a pharmaceutical representative, but a couple of years ago, he was the proud owner of a successful electronic shop in Porvorim. In an attempt to meet Lobo’s alleged growing demand for money, the relative said, Mardolkar decided to pawn his wife’s gold and his shop during the off-season to raise the funds. Cheated and broke, Mardolkar was
unable to repay the bank. Finally in 2010, the bank auctioned his shop.
He also lost all the gold. He tried to brave through the crisis, but when he lost his sister, it was the last straw. This is when he decided to file a case against Lobo, the family say. “Today, he is in deep financial trouble, but he is holding on for the sake of his wife, six-year-old son and sister’s three children who have been orphaned,” says the relative.
Mardolkar registered a complaint with the Porvorim police on July 28 against Lobo. In his complaint, he states that Lobo
had promised to allot a 1,200 sq mt plot of Comunidade land to him, for which the Serula Comunidade attorney
had taken Rs 20 lakh in 2008, but till date he has not been allotted any land. When he went to demand his money
back, Lobo threatened him with dire consequences. Porvorim police have registered the case under Sections 420 (cheating) and 506 (threatening to kill). Lobo was granted conditional anticipatory bail in this case by the Additional Sessions
Court at Panaji on August 2. Complex web Mardolkar and his family may or may not win the battle against power and
money. But the Serula Comunidade case stands out for how deep-rooted and complex this land fraud had become.
According to documents available with Herald Review, file numbers from the official gazette were quoted to make forged files appear authentic. Take the case of file number 1-135- 96-ACNZ/1996. In the Official Gazette of August 1996 the name of Vilas Matondkar appears as the applicant for this property which is shown to belong to the Comunidade of Nachinola.
In 1998, the same file number is
used for a different survey number for
a plot in the Comunidade of Serula. A
temporary possession certificate was
issued for this plot in the name of one
Vinod Jagtap.
Interestingly, in a document titled
‘handover of the temporary possession’
of the same case, it states that the
document has to be signed by the attorney
of the Comunidade of Serula,
the grantee, two witnesses and the
clerk-in-charge. However, the attorney’s
signature is clearly missing from the
document.
On July 17, the CID crime branch
which has been investigating the case
of misappropriation of funds of the
Comunidade of Serula for the last four
months, arrested six persons who had
been initial beneficiaries of the plots.
Those who managed to appropriate
plots through this convoluted web of
a scam, Mohammad Hanif Badekhan,
Altaf Abdul Khan, Santosh Gajinkar,
Kishore Kudnekar, Sanyukta Nagvekar
and Sonia Wankhade were arrested under
Sections 403 (dishonest misappropriation
of property ), 409 (criminal
breach of trust), 468 (forgery), 471
(using as genuine a forged document)
and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal
Code (IPC).
Most of the files related to those arrested
for acquiring Serula properties
fraudulently, bear similarities in terms
of file numbers from the Official Gazette
being forged in their temporary possession
certificate.
For instance, Nagvekar’s temporary
possession certificate in 1998 bears
the file number 1-185-96-ACNZ/1996,
which was Anjuna-resident Amit Porob’s
file number in 1996, wherein he had
applied for a land belonging to Comunidade
of Anjuna.
Similarly, file number 1-184-96-
ACNZ/1996 which belonged to Santacruz-
resident Jack Celestin D’souza
in 1996 features in Badekhan’s temporary
possession certificate in 1998.
One wonders about the role played
by the panchayat in this mess as well.
How could the Socorro village body
have not detected the red flags over
all these years?
In September 2012, Lobo sent a
letter to the Socorro panchayat secretary
stating that Plot Number 31 of Survey
No 5/1 that belonged to one Luis De A
Rebeiro in 1997 had been reverted to
the Serula Comunidade in 2011. The
property, he wrote, had been thereafter
leased to Altaf Abdul Khan.
Had the panchayat bothered to inspect
this case a little closer it would
have detected not only the forged file
number, but also that Khan’s temporary
possession certificate was dated June
1998—a good 14 years before Lobo
wrote the letter.
But the more brazen con is the case
of Agnelo Lobo’s son, Alistan.
According to documents, Alistan Lobo
was issued a temporary possession
certificate for Plot No 39 of Survey
Number 176/0 on November 30, 2007.
Was Agnelo Lobo trying to “gift” his
son a plot on his birthday? Alistan
Lobo, incidentally, had turned 17 on
that day, and as a minor was not eligible
to acquire that property.
In February 2013, Alistan Lobo filed
an affidavit stating that he was the
owner of Plot No 39, and that he intended
to apply for permission to build
a bungalow in the property.
But when this intricate scam began
to unwind in the hands of investigators
in August 2013, in response to a complaint
filed at the Porvorim police, a
letter was filed in Alistan’s name stating
that he does not have any connection
with Plot No. 39 of Survey Number
176/0.
Yet true to character the Lobos seem
to never give up. In December 2013,
responding to a complaint that an
illegal construction was being carried
out in this very property, the under
secretary (revenue) ordered an investigation.
In January 2014, the Porvorim
police filed a report stating that Alistan
was interrogated about the construction
on the property (which his affidavit
says belongs to him), but he denied
he had anything to do with it, or that
he had applied for a construction licence.
Alistan Lobo is currently out on anticipatory
bail.
Spread across the villages of Socorro,
Salvador do Mundo, Penha da Franca
and the Ecoxim part of Pomburpa, the
Serula Comunidade land scam has not
only opened a can of worms, but it has
also exposed the fact of how corruption
has pervaded all levels of the social
order in Goa.
