Jayalalithaa ‘crackdown ‘: Lottery baron Santiago Martin arrested in land grabbing case

Martin was arrested following a complaint accusing him of grabbing 2,000-square feet land.

Lottery king Santiago Martin,who controls a vast lottery empire across the country,was today arrested along with his relative in connection with a land grabbing case in Salem,police said.

Martin was arrested here by a police team from Salem following a complaint by one Balaji who had accused him of grabbing his 2,000-square feet land worth Rs two crore,they said,adding,Martin’s relative Benjamin was also arrested.

The lottery baron,whose firm is the sole distributor for several lotteries,had used his political clout to illegally acquire many plots of land and several criminal cases were pending against him,the police said.

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Martin is the first leading businessman to be arrested in the crackdown launched by the Jayalalithaa government on land grabbing during the previous DMK regime.

Coimbatore-based Martin had recently surrendered before a court in Tirupur in connection with a Rs 6.30 crore cheating case and released on conditional bail.

He has also been named as an accused in four cases being probed by the CBI in Kerala relating to alleged irregularities and corruption in operation of lotteries in other state.

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