Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi assured the family members about the absconding accused, CCB told the Madras High Court

Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, former Tamil Nadu Minister for School Education. File | Photo credit: Akhila Easwaran

Former Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi (DMK) has assured the relatives of fugitive accused Muthukumar in the over ₹100 crore fraud case that he is safe and he will return in due course, Chennai Central Crime Branch (CCB) police told the Madras High Court.

In a counter-affidavit filed before Justice V. Lakshminarayanan in response to Mr. Poyyamozhi’s anticipatory bail application, the Deputy Commissioner of Police attached to the CCB said, “The petitioner was approached by relatives of A2 (Muthukumar) regarding his whereabouts and informed that A2 was safe and would return at an appropriate time.”

Public Prosecutor R. John Sathyan, assisted by Additional Public Prosecutor Arun Anbumani, strongly opposed the anticipatory bail application for the former minister, saying the whereabouts of the absconding accused could be ascertained by subjecting the petitioner to custodial interrogation.

In the counter affidavit, the CCB said that BT Arasakumar (A1) and Mr. Muthukumar, who were the founder president and treasurer of an unregistered body called Tamil Nadu Private Schools Association, were instrumental in collecting crores of rupees from various managements of private schools across the state to obtain permanent recognition, upgradation, approval of DTCP and other permissions related to buildings and CMDA.

The investigating agency alleged that the unregistered association was formed in 2024 based on a communication by the former minister through his personal assistant Valadi Karthick. Mr. Poyyamozhi attended an event held to inaugurate the association at Kalaivanar Arangam in Chennai on 30 December 2024. CCB claimed to have secured a video recording of the event, the then minister “screening” Mr. Arasakumar and Mr. Muthukumar in front of a large gathering of school correspondents.

After that, all the needs of the individual school leaders were channeled through the first two accused for being placed in front of a higher government level. So far, “more than 177 victim school managements have come forward and a prima facie amount of ₹17,26,73,650 has been traced. The complete financial trail and ultimate beneficiaries are still under investigation,” the CCB told the court.

Denying the petitioner’s claim that it was mere name-dropping, the investigating agency said: “The petitioner, by virtue of his position as Minister of Education, lent his office and access and was the link at the government level through which the same categories of requests were handled and processed. During the course of the investigation, materials emerged which revealed that the collected money was passed on to the Minister.”

The CCB also said it listed Mr. Poyyamozhi as the fifth accused in the case only after it came across materials related to collection of bribes referred to as “party fund” and direct contacts of the victims with the petitioner on various occasions. It is said that many more illegalities could be revealed only after the arrest of the second accused.

“The scope of the conspiracy, the seriousness of the charges, the organized manner in which the offenses were committed, the ongoing investigation into the money trail, the strength of the evidence so far collected, the real possibility of witness intimidation, obstruction and manipulation, etc., clearly entitle the petitioner to seek relief from anticipatory bail,” reads the petitioner’s appeal.

On the other hand, Senior Counsel P. Wilson, representing the petitioner, argued that the case did not require a custodial hearing at all as the CCB had already raided the premises associated with the former minister, subjected him to more than eight hours of questioning and collected income tax returns and other documents. The petitioner stated that he cooperated with the investigation throughout and is willing to cooperate in the future.

After hearing both sides, the judge adjourned his decision on anticipatory bail until October 26, 2026, to review witness statements in the meantime.

Published – 21 Oct 2026 13:01 IST