Chennai, Oct 26 — Former Tamil Nadu School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh was arrested by the Greater Chennai Police’s Central Crime Branch on Monday, hours after the Madras High Court dismissed his anticipatory bail petition in an alleged Rs 100-crore corruption case involving private school approvals.
Mahesh was reportedly taken into custody from an apartment in Aminjikarai, Chennai.
His arrest followed Justice V Lakshminarayanan’s rejection of his plea for protection from arrest earlier in the day.
The case centres on allegations that money was collected from private school managements with promises of securing government permissions during the previous DMK administration, when Mahesh held the school education portfolio.
Investigators have linked the alleged collections to applications for recognition, licence renewals and other statutory clearances.
According to the investigating agency, 177 private schools have been identified in connection with payments allegedly totalling at least Rs 100 crore.
Investigators contend that the money was collected in the name of party funds, with assurances that pending applications would be cleared. The FIR originated from a complaint by DC Elangovan, secretary of the Federation of Associations of Private Schools in Tamil Nadu.
He alleged that Tamil Nadu Private Schools Association president BT Arasukumar and other office-bearers collected several crores from school managements but failed to deliver the promised approvals.
The assurances allegedly covered no-objection certificates, licences, recognition and renewals. School managements were also reportedly promised permanent recognition, permission to upgrade their institutions, clearances from the Directorate of Town and Country Planning and other mandatory approvals.
Police initially registered the case under Sections 316(5) and 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, concerning criminal breach of trust and cheating, read with Section 3(5).
The prosecution subsequently filed an alteration report before the Metropolitan Magistrate seeking to invoke Sections 7 and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and add Mahesh as an accused. This expanded the case beyond the allegations against the association’s office-bearers to include the former minister.
After being named in the case, Mahesh approached the Madras High Court seeking to quash the FIR. He also sought anticipatory bail, which the court rejected on Monday.
The investigation concerns whether school managements were induced to make payments on assurances of official approvals and the alleged involvement of those named in the case.