Panaji | The Enforcement Directorate has arrested an alleged mastermind in a multi-crore land 'scam' in Goa, official sources said Wednesday.

Rohan Harmalkar, who contested the 2022 Goa Assembly elections from Cumbharjua as an independent, was taken into custody on Tuesday night under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.

A special court in Panaji sent him to 14-day ED custody.

The federal probe agency had undertaken searches in this case on April 24-25.

The searches were conducted based on intelligence and subsequent financial investigation in this case, the ED had said .

"It revealed that one person named Rohan Harmalkar is a key mastermind, who along with other associates resorted to a large-scale conspiracy to illegally appropriate land belonging to rightful owners through fraudulent means including impersonation, creation of fake documents, tampering with revenue records, etc," the agenct had said in a statement post the searches.

It said the properties, originally owned by individuals and family estates, were "unlawfully" sold without their consent, causing serious financial and legal distress to such victims.

Documents of properties worth Rs 1,000 crore (current market value), "forged" title deeds indicating "manipulation" of land records and "fraudulent" transfers of high-value land parcels spanning several lakhs of square metres in prime tourist hotspots like Anjuna, Arpora, and Asagoan in Bardez Taluka were seized during the raids, it had said.

It added that original documents of immovable properties worth more than Rs 600 crore were seized during the raids.

The ED suspects that the "proceeds of crime" generated were further laundered through various individuals and benami entities and finally invested into real estate, luxury vehicles and other high-value assets