COIMBATORE: As part of a country-wide search at the offices and residences of lottery businessman Santiago Martin, Enforcement Directorate teams searched multiple locations in Chennai and Coimbatore on Thursday.
Sources said at least 20 places linked to Martin, his son-in-law Aadhav Arjuna, who is also the deputy general secretary of VCK, and associates in Chennai and Coimbatore, Faridabad in Haryana, Ludhiana in Punjab, and Kolkata in West Bengal were being searched.
In Chennai, searches were conducted at offices in Triplicane, Teynampet and Poes Garden under the security cover provided by the Central Reserve Police Force. Searches, which started at 6.30am at three locations in Coimbatore, continued till evening.
According to sources, the searches were held at Martin’s office, his residence at Vellakinar near Thudiyalur, and Martin Homoeopathy Medical College on Mettupalayam Road in Coimbatore.
The search operation comes two weeks after the Madras HC allowed ED to proceed with its probe against Martin after overturning a lower court order closing an FIR.
Last year, the directorate had attached assets worth Rs 457 crore in a case against Martin linked to an alleged loss of over Rs 900 crore caused to the Sikkim government due to fraudulent sale of the state lottery in Kerala. Martin’s Future Gaming Solutions India Pvt. Ltd. is the master distributor of Sikkim lotteries in the country.