Tamil Nadu former education minister Anbil Mahesh booked in Rs 100 cr private-school approval fraud case

The Chennai's former school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi has been booked in an alleged private school fraud case worth Rs 100 crore after the Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the Greater Chennai Police conducted searches at residences and premises linked to the minister.

The crime branch seized 118 case related documents, property deeds, cheques, bank details, 18 mobile phones, along with three laptops, eight pen drives, two desktops with built-in hard disks, one tablet and one Apple iPad, according to a press release issued by the Chennai Central Crime Branch.

The police summoned Poyyamozhi before the CCB on September 18, PTI reported. The investigation found that the alleged money was acquired from 177 private schools for securing government approvals.

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'No fear, no guilt': Anbil Mahesh on financial fraud charges

The searches were followed by the invocation of provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and the addition of Poyyamozhi’s name to the FIR in a separate sheet.

CCB registered the case following a complaint from Federation of Associations of Private Schools in Tamil Nadu , which alleged that private-school managements were cheated after being promised permanent recognition, school upgradation, DTCP approval and other govt clearances, the statement read.

Commenting on the alleged fraud charges on him, Poyyamozhi said in a PTI report that he had “no guilt and no fear.” The officials seized only routine files related to his tenure as school education minister, including documents from Class 10 and 12 exam results, achievements, and district-wise reviews of the education department.

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Chennai Police questioned over 250 people in private-school approval scam

The Chennai police questioned over 250 people, including the officials of the school education department, as part of the investigation.

The former school education minister was arrested under the Goondas Act and two other accused, Suresh and Raja, were also detained in connection with the case,

The Chennai police began searches around 7:40 am on September 16 and continued for around 8 hours and raided six locations linked to Poyyamozhi, while other places were associated with Valadi Karthik and Arun in Tiruchirappalli.

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CCB searches 9 locations

The CCB searches were conducted at a total of nine locations associated with the former school education minister.

“Based on a complaint alleging that money running into several crores was collected from private school managements by promising to obtain permanent recognition, school upgradation, DTCP approval and other government permissions, a case was registered by the Chennai Central Crime Branch. Three accused persons in the case, B.T. Arasakumar, Suresh and Raja, have already been arrested and remanded in judicial custody,” the statement read.

On June 27, 2026, the Chennai police arrested BT Arasakumar of Saligramam after investigating that he collected over Rs 100 crore from school managements by promising to secure government approvals.