Officers from the Salem City Central Crime Branch (CCB) arrested in Chennai on Saturday Coimbatore-based lottery businessman Santiago Martin in connection with a fresh land grab case at Salem.
Martin was arrested when he went to sign the conditional bail register at the CCB office on the premises of Office of Suburban Commissionerate in Chennai.
His relative, S. Benjamin, was also taken into custody. Martin and Benjamin are accused in a case of land grab at Sriperumbudur near Chennai.
Besides the two, named as Accused No.1 and 2 in the fresh case, the Salem CCB arrested Babu, Venkatesan, Malarselvi, Rajeshwari and Vishitha Yogalakshmi. Another person, Manickam, was absconding. Cases under Sections 120 (B), 147, 148, 427, 307, 506 (ii), 409 and 420 of Indian Penal Code and Section 3 of Public Property Damages Act were registered. According to police, the complainant, Balaji (39), a former wholesale lottery agent and a realtor residing at Second Agraharam here, alleged that he and his brother Prakasam gave a general Power of Attorney to Martin for their family house and land of 5,700 sq ft at Second Agraharam, a bustling commercial locality, as security for his lottery business. The value of the land today, he claimed, was about Rs. 6 crore. Martin, without his knowledge, sold the land to Babu and his family members in 2009. Though Balaji preferred a complaint during the then DMK regime, no case was registered against Martin.
