Chennai

A special court in Chennai on Tuesday dismissed the bail petition of former Tamil Nadu School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi in an alleged corruption case involving the collection of money from private schools in exchange for approvals and regulatory permits during the previous DMK government.

Special Judge L.S. Sathyamoorthy rejected the petition after accepting the prosecution’s contention that the investigation was still at a preliminary stage and further questioning of the accused was necessary.

Mahesh, who has been lodged in Puzhal Central Prison for the past 16 days, was arrested by the Chennai Central Crime Branch following allegations of large-scale irregularities in granting recognition and other permissions to private educational institutions. The investigation initially focused on private schools association administrator P.D. Arakumar and others before the former minister was subsequently named as an accused.

Anticipating arrest, Mahesh approached the Madras High Court seeking anticipatory bail. However, Justice V. Lakshminarayanan declined to grant relief on October 26, following which police arrested him and secured his judicial remand.

Investigators subsequently obtained three days of police custody to question the former minister regarding the alleged financial transactions. During the bail hearing, senior advocate Abudu Kumar Rajarathnam, representing Mahesh, argued that investigators had failed to produce direct evidence linking his client to the alleged corruption.

He questioned the changing estimates of the alleged collections, claiming that the amount initially cited as Rs 100 crore had subsequently increased to Rs 400 crore, Rs 600 crore and eventually Rs 800 crore. The defence maintained that Mahesh’s mobile phone and electronic devices had already been seized, eliminating any possibility of evidence tampering. It also assured the court that he would cooperate with investigators. Opposing bail, government counsel R. John Sathyan alleged that Mahesh maintained close connections with co-accused Muthukumar and Arakumar.

The prosecution claimed that money collected by Muthukumar had been transported to Mahesh’s residence by an individual identified as Saravanan, and that investigators possessed video evidence supporting the allegation.

It further submitted that Saravanan remained absconding and additional interrogation was required.