A special court in Chennai on Friday deferred until November 2 its order on the Central Crime Branch’s request for five days of police custody of former school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi in the alleged Rs 100-crore private schools recognition cheating case.
Special judge L S Sathyamoorthy directed that Anbil Mahesh, who was arrested on October 26, remain in judicial custody and be produced before the court at 11am on November 2. The former minister was arrested after the Madras high court refused to grant him anticipatory bail.
The Central Crime Branch has sought custodial interrogation to investigate the alleged money trail in the case, examine properties held by Anbil Mahesh and his family members, identify suspected benami assets and establish the alleged role of former DMK MLA Muthukumar, according to the prosecution’s submissions before the court.
Special public prosecutor for prevention of corruption cases Usha Rani told the court that custodial questioning was necessary for the investigation. She also submitted that adequate medical facilities would be provided to the former minister in prison after his counsel raised concerns about his health and requested permission for home-cooked food and medicines.
Representing Anbil Mahesh, senior advocate Abudukumar Rajarathinam argued that the former minister had already cooperated with the investigation. He told the court that searches had been conducted at properties linked to Anbil Mahesh on September 16 and that the former minister had been questioned for eight hours on September 18.
“He answered more than 200 questions and furnished documents sought by the investigating officers,” Rajarathinam said, according to the submissions reported before the court.
The defence also argued that the government order extending the recognition renewal period for private schools from three years to 20 years had been issued after consultations involving several departments. Rajarathinam submitted that Anbil Mahesh, who was the school education minister at the time, had only forwarded the schools’ representation to officials for consideration and could not be implicated for what he described as a collective policy decision.
The defence further alleged that the custody application had been filed to obstruct the former minister’s bail application. The court has not accepted or rejected those arguments, and the allegations in the case remain subject to judicial proceedings.
The case centres on the administrative process for recognising and renewing recognition for private schools. Such recognition determines whether institutions can continue operating within the regulatory framework of the school education system. The court’s proceedings are examining whether that process was misused and whether financial benefits or undisclosed assets were connected to the alleged irregularities.
The prosecution also sought time to respond to the defence request allowing home food. The court will next consider the police custody application and related submissions when Anbil Mahesh is produced on November 2.
