CHENNAI: Responding to the petition moved by DMK leader and former school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi challenging the dismissal of his bail petition in a case involving allegations of cheating private schools of over Rs 100 crore, the Central Crime Branch (CCB) said it has to interrogate an accused who played a key role in the scam.

On September 10, the Special Court for cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act had dismissed Anbil Mahesh's bail petition observing that the investigation was still at a preliminary stage. He then filed an appeal before the Madras High Court.

When the matter came up for hearing before Justice V Lakshminarayanan, Public Prosecutor R John Sathyan argued that V Muthukumar, a key accused, surrendered before the court on October 29 and that the prosecution was seeking to take him into police custody. He further submitted that another accused, Saravanan, who allegedly handled the money, had also surrendered before the court on November 11.

The Public Prosecutor sought time to file a counter to the petition. Accepting the request, the court posted the matter to November 17.

Anbil Mahesh was arrested on October 26 in connection with a case involving allegations of cheating private schools to the tune of over Rs 100 crore. His judicial custody was extended till November 18.