Rs 100 crore school scam: Special court dismisses DMK leader Anbil Mahesh's bail plea

CHENNAI: The Special Court for cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act has dismissed the bail petition filed by DMK former School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, arrested in a case involving allegations of collecting over Rs. 100 crore from private schools by promising to secure recognition and permissions.

DMK leader and former School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi was arrested on October 26, 2026, in connection with a case involving allegations of cheating private schools of over Rs. 100 crore by promising to secure recognition and permissions for them.

Seeking bail, Anbil Mahesh filed a petition before the Special Court for cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

During the hearing before Judge L S Sathiyamurthy, senior counsel Abudu Kumar Rajarathinam, appearing for Anbil Mahesh, submitted that the initial complaint alleged that Rs. 100 crore had been collected by falsely claiming that bribes had to be paid to government officials and politicians to secure permissions for private schools.

He questioned the increase in the alleged amount collected from Rs. 100 crore to Rs. 400 crore, Rs. 600 crore and even Rs. 800 crore. He also pointed out that the case against Anbil Mahesh was based on statements given by those who allegedly paid bribes to Arasukumar. However, the police had not arrested them, despite paying bribes being an offence.

The counsel argued that the police could not protect those who had paid bribes and had failed to question the private school managements that allegedly paid Rs. 30 lakh to Rs. 40 lakh about the source of the money.

Opposing the bail plea, State Public Prosecutor R. John Sathyan submitted that Muthukumar had to be interrogated to collect further evidence and that Anbil Mahesh also needed to be questioned in connection with the same. The three-day police custody interrogation had yielded fresh evidence, which required further investigation. Therefore, bail should not be granted, it argued.

Citing the provisions of the new Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), the prosecution submitted that an accused could be taken into police custody for interrogation for up to 60 days. As fresh evidence had emerged during the investigation and further custodial interrogation of Anbil Mahesh was required, granting bail at this stage would affect the investigation, it argued.

After hearing the submissions, Judge L S Sathiyamurthy dismissed the bail petition.