Goa, Sept. 11 -- In a crackdown on what is emerging as one of Goa's biggest land scams, the Directorate of Enforce ment (ED) has unearthed a sprawling racket involving the fraudulent acquisition and sale of prime land par cels worth over Rs 1,200 crore. Acting on an FIR regis tered by Goa Police, the ED conducted two days of ex tensive search operations across 13 locations in Goa and Hyderabad, seizing Rs 72 lakh in cash, seven high-end luxury cars, mul tiple bank accounts and a trove of incriminating documents.

The searches, carried out under the Preven tion of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, have brought to light how the accused - led by Yeshwant Sawant and others - al legedly orchestrated a sys tematic land grab of more than 3.5 la...