States » SouthPosted at: Nov 6 2026 3:57PM


Special Court extends judicial remand of former DMK Minister Anbil Mahesh till Nov 18

Chennai, Nov 6 (UNI) The Special Court for Prevention of Corruption Act cases on Friday extended till November 18, the judicial remand of Opposition DMK leader and Former Tamil Nadu School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi in judicial custody,
in the Rs.100 crore private school fraud case.
He was produced before Special Court Judge L.S.Sathyamoorthy via video conferencing from Puzhal Central prison after which his judicial remand was extended.
Earlier on November four when Anbil Mahesh was produced before the court after the expiry of his three days police custody for questioning in the case, the Judge had remanded him till today.
The ex-Minister's judicial remand was extended a day after the Court had reserved its orders on his regular bail petition to November 10, when the Madras High Court will resume its hearing on the main plea filed by the ex-DMK Minister seeking to quash the FIR in the school fraud case..
Anbil Mahesh was arrested by the CCB police on October 26 hours after the Madras High Court dismissed his anticipatory bail petition in the graft case, which according to the investigators could cross Rs.400 crores.
He was the first ex-DMK Minister to be arrested in a corruption case after the TVK government headed by Chief Minister Vijay assumed office in May and started digging into various corrupt activities involving former Ministers during the previous DMK regime.
Police said the arrest was based on the material evidences collected during the raids conducted at Anbil's locations and those connected with him.
The case was registered under Sections 316(5) (criminal breach of trust by a public servant) and 318(4) (cheating that dishonestly induces a person to deliver property), read with Section 3(5) (joint liability arising from common intention), of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Mahesh was also accused of collecting money from more than 1,000 private school managements in the guise of a "party fund" during his tenure as School Education Minister from 2021 to 2026.
So far, four others, including former DMK MLA V.Muthukumar, the prime accused B.T.Arasakumar, and two others, were arrested in the case.
A total of six people were cited as accused in the case. They included Arasakumar, Vaalaadi Karthik, who is said to be the brother of the ex-Minister and was yet to be traced, Muthukumar, also a long time friend of Anbil Mahesh, his driver Suresh and the former Minister and one Saravanan, who according to police had carried the money to Anbil's house. He is absconding.
The CCB registered an FIR alleging that over Rs.100 crore was illegally collected from private school managements as a "party fund" in exchange for statutory clearances and recognition during the previous DMK regime. Police quoting further investigsations reveal that the money trail could touch over Rs 400 crores.
It may be noted that two weeks after raids by police and questioning and a day after the court had refused interim relief on October 1, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) stepped in to probe the money laundering angle in the case.
The ED took up the probe based on the FIR registered by the CCB police on September 16 to examine the alleged illegal financial transactions and the money trail in the case and the possible money laundering angle. The ED probe is expected to focus on the alleged financial transactions and whether the proceeds of the alleged offence would attract provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The ED has obtained the case documents from the CCB police and is examining the financial transactions connected with the alleged collection of money from private schools promising permanent recognitions and other statutory government approvals. The agency conducted searches at premises linked to Anbil Mahesh and Arasakumar, cited as the key accused and was the first person to be arrested in the case, as part of its investigation.
Based on a complaint from Federation of Associations of Private School in Tamil Nadu Secretary T.C.Elangovan that key accused Arasakumar (59) had collected large sums of money from private school managements promising to secure government approvals and clearances, including Permanent Recognition, School Upgradation and building-related approvals, police booked him under several sections.
Arasakumar, who claimed himself as President of an unregistered Association, was arrested on June 27. He was subsequently detained under the Goondas Act which was subsequently quashed by the High Court. Widening the probe, police arrested two more people in the case and Muthukumar had surrendered before the court a couple of days back.
After holding state-wide inquiries, questioning about 250 people, including officials attached to the School Education and other Deparments and seizing incriminating documents, it came to light that several crores of money have been collected from 177 private schools in the first phase. As the complaints continued to pour in alleging financial irregularties and cheating, officials freezed the bank accounts of Arasakumar, his family members and those linked to him.
Several documents and digital evidences, including mobile phones, hard disks were recovered. Even as further probe was on in the case, a persual of the seized materials and evidences revealed the involvement of the former School Education Minister in alleged corrupt activities.
After registering cases under various sections including under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act, the CCB officials had on September 16 conducted raids at nine locations linked to the former DMK Minister and three of his assistants Valadi Karthik, Arun Prakash and Prakash, for the alleged irregularties and seized 188 incriminating documents.
The raids were conducted at nine locations linked to the four people, including two premises each linked to the DMK leader in his native Tiruchy and Chennai, and seized 118 documents, including property documents, bank account details, cheques, 18 mobile phones, three laptops, eight pendrives, a desktop with inbuilt hard disk, one Tablet and one Apple I-pad.
Police claimed that more than Rs 100 crore was collected from several school managements through the network under investigation. It was said that Arasakumar was alleged to have operated through an unregistered body called the Tamil Nadu Private Schools Association. It was launched by Arasakumar in December 2024 with several private school associations as its members.
The case was initially based on complaints alleging that large sums of money were collected from private schools by promising to facilitate permanent recognition, approvals and other statutory clearances. The investigation has since been expanded to examine the role of several individuals and the flow of funds.
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Tags: #Special Court extends judicial remand of former DMK Minister Anbil Mahesh till Nov 18
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