CHENNAI/TIRUCHY: The Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the Greater Chennai Police on Wednesday added former school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi as an accused in an alleged private school fraud case involving at least Rs 100 crore and conducted searches at nine places linked to him in Chennai and Tiruchy.
The probe found that money was collected from 177 private schools for securing government approvals, police said. The searches, which lasted over eight hours, followed the invocation of provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the addition of Mahesh’s name to the FIR in a separate sheet. The CCB has also summoned him to appear before it on Friday.
Reacting to the searches, DMK chief M K Stalin termed them an act of “political vendetta” and alleged that the TVK government was attempting to divert attention from issues confronting TN.
Speaking in Tiruchy after the searches, Mahesh said around 20 CCB officials arrived at 7.40 am and conducted a “complete search”. “We extended full cooperation to the search. The officials themselves said such cooperation is rare,” he added.
‘Raids after queries over new secretariat expense’
The case pertains to charges that money was collected from private schools in return for government approvals, including permanent recognition, school upgradation and DTCP clearance.
Three people, including B T Arasakumar (59), who ran the unregistered TN Private Schools Association, have already been arrested in connection with the alleged fraud, which took place during Mahesh’s tenure as school education minister.
During the searches, the police seized 118 documents, 18 mobile phones, three laptops, eight pen drives, two desktops with in-built hard disks, a tablet, an Apple iPad, property documents, bank details and cheques.
Searches were conducted at Mahesh’s residence in Tennur and other premises linked to him in Tiruchy and Chennai. Premises associated with his aide Valadi Karthik and personal assistant Arun in Ariyamangalam were also searched.
Tension prevailed outside Mahesh’s Tennur residence as a large number of DMK cadres gathered there. Some attempted to enter the premises and staged a protest.
Former DMK minister and MLA K N Nehru visited the residence thrice during the search but was not allowed inside. Speaking to reporters, Nehru alleged that key DMK leaders were being targeted by the TVK government and questioned the prolonged search.
For his part, Mahesh said the documents seized were related to his tenure as school education minister and were official records, including reviews of Class 10 and Class 12 results. He maintained that nothing illegal was found during the searches.
Alleging a political motive behind the action, Mahesh said the raids followed his questions over the proposed expenditure of more than `1,200 crore on a new secretariat despite existing infrastructure. He said he would appear before the CCB on Friday and cooperate with the probe while legally contesting what he termed “false cases”.
Mahesh said he would continue his political work and campaign for the Dharapuram bypoll after the probe. The fraud came to light after police registered a case based on a complaint by Elangovan, secretary of the Federation of Associations of Private Schools in TN, alleging that private school managements were cheated after paying money to secure permanent recognition, school upgradation, DTCP approval and other government clearances.
Arasakumar was arrested on June 27 and subsequently detained under the Goondas Act. Two others, Suresh and Raja, were also arrested. The police have questioned several School Education Dept officials and seized government records as part of the investigation.
The probe found that the money collected from 177 schools amounted to at least Rs 100 crore, police said.
