I-T searches in over 70 locations belonging to ‘Lottery King’ Santiago Martin

According to reports, after coordinated searches, Rs 40 lakh was seized but officials were not able to find evidence of tax evasion.
I-T searches in over 70 locations belonging to ‘Lottery King’ Santiago Martin
I-T searches in over 70 locations belonging to ‘Lottery King’ Santiago Martin
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Investigation wing officials of the Income Tax department on Tuesday swooped upon over 70 premises belonging to businessman Santiago Martin, also known as the ‘Lottery King’. 

According to a report in The Times of India, searches were being conducted on 22 premises in Coimbatore, 10 premises in Chennai, 18 locations in Kolkata, 5 in Mumbai, 3 in Delhi, and 2 each in Hyderabad, Guwahati, Siliguri, Gangtok, Ranchi and Ludhiana.

In Coimbatore, the inspection covered a Homeopathy college in Gounder Mills area, Martin’s house in Vellaikinar, a hotel at Saibaba Colony, apartments on Sarvanampatti-Thudiyalur road, warehouses, offices, etc., in addition to search operations conducted at houses of the workers employed in the Martin group of companies.

Martin operates primarily in Kerala and north-eastern states where lottery business is still permitted. Martin was detained at Kolkata airport and taken in for questioning. He was on his way to Chennai.

While Martin’s main business is the operation of lotteries run by state governments, in which he functions as a marketing agent, he is also into real estate business. He is particularly active in West Bengal and the North East where he enjoys monopoly control in the lottery business.

An official is quoted in TOI as saying, “As of now, we have seized Rs 40 lakh cash from one of his premises. There are more seizures, but it would take some time to collate the information trickling from various places.”

However, Martin was said to be alert on the searches and had all documents in place. In the coordinated searches, officials were not able to find evidence of tax evasion as per a report in The New Indian Express.

An IT official has said, “Martin had also contributed huge amounts of money for various disaster management efforts in the state last year. He also ranks among the top taxpayers in the country and belongs to the Super Tax Payer group.

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