The Enforcement Directorate (ED) will appeal the Supreme Court’s decision to stop the probe into lottery King Santiago Martin. The order also blocks access to the digital evidence seized from his employees. Martin, a major political donor, is under investigation. The ED plans to challenge the decision while awaiting further hearings.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) plans to challenge a Supreme Court order issued on December 13 that has stayed all investigations against Santiago Martin, the Chennai-based ‘lottery king.’
In an ex-parte interim Order, the court prohibited the agency from accessing and examining the contents of Martin’s iPhone 15 Pro and other electronic devices seized from his employees during searches conducted last month.
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Additionally, the court has suspended summons issued to Martin for two months.
Sources within the agency described the court’s decision as “unprecedented,” noting that it indefinitely suspended all investigations against Martin and obstructed standard procedures, such as reviewing seized documents and devices, and summoning the accused.
A source remarked,
“These days, all documents and communications are digitally stored, either in phones or laptops/computers. Where do you look for evidence if you don’t recover them from phones or other digital devices?”
An Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Pankaj Mithal scheduled a hearing for February 17 and granted Martin’s request for an interim order preventing access to and copying of the contents of his iPhone 15 Pro and other electronic devices seized from his staff.
In his petition, Martin argued that the ED sought his presence at their office “for the purpose of extraction of data stored in the respective digital devices” related to an ongoing investigation against him.
The bench stated,
“In the meanwhile, there will be ad-interim relief in terms of prayer clauses (i) and (ii) of the application for interim relief.”
Martin, a major political donor with electoral bonds worth Rs.1,368 crore, significantly contributed to the DMK, receiving Rs.509 crore from him.
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The ED had been pushing to resume its investigation against Martin after two years of legal battles, during which the PMLA probe was closed by a Supreme Court order after the Tamil Nadu police withdrew the predicate offense (FIR) that had prompted the ED’s money laundering case.
The investigation resumed last month after the Madras High Court instructed the Tamil Nadu police to restore the FIR, citing sufficient evidence against Martin.
During searches at his properties in Chennai and Kolkata last month, ED officials seized Rs.12 crore in unaccounted cash along with several electronic devices and iPhones. The ED summoned Martin to appear before the investigating officer when his phone would be unlocked in his presence to collect evidence related to the case.