Madras High Court Dismisses Anbil Mahesh Anticipatory Bail Plea in Rs 100 Crore Schools Case

Updated 14:46 UTC

Chennai police arrested former Tamil Nadu school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi on Monday, hours after the Madras High Court dismissed his anticipatory bail plea, PTI reported. Officers from the Greater Chennai Police Central Crime Branch arrested him at his apartment in Aminjikarai, according to Times of India reporting of the police action.

Police said Mahesh is accused of collecting money from more than 1,000 private school managements in the guise of a party fund during his tenure as school education minister from 2021 to 2026, in exchange for permanent recognition and other administrative approvals, PTI reported. The first information report includes charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act, and the Enforcement Directorate has also registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act to examine the suspected financial trail, PTI reported. The allegations have not been proven in court.

The Madras High Court on Monday, October 26, 2026, dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of former Tamil Nadu education minister Anbil Mahesh in an alleged Rs 100 crore corruption case linked to granting recognition to private schools. Justice V Lakshminarayanan dismissed the plea, LiveLaw reported. A detailed order copy is awaited.

The Hindu also reported the dismissal on Monday. It said Justice V. Lakshminarayanan dismissed the advance bail plea of the former minister in a case investigated by the Chennai Central Crime Branch police, known as the CCB.

How the case began

The case began with a first information report, known as an FIR, that followed a complaint by the former general secretary of the Tamil Nadu Private Schools Association. The complaint alleged that the association president, BT Arasukumar, and other office bearers collected membership fees and subscription fees from private schools on the promise of securing no objection certificates, licences, recognition and renewals for those schools, and did not fulfil the promise.

The FIR was first registered under Sections 316(5) and 318(4), read with Section 3(5), of the BNS. Prosecutors later filed an alteration report to add Sections 7 and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and to array Mahesh as an accused in the case.

What Mahesh told the court

Mahesh argued that there was no record of illegal gratification received by him and no overt act by him in the case. He said others had collected money using his name. Alongside the bail plea, he has also sought to quash the FIR against him.

That request to quash the FIR is separate from the anticipatory bail plea dismissed on Monday. The dismissal means the court did not grant him protection from arrest in advance in this case, and the detailed reasons for the decision will be known when the full order copy is released.

What the police told the court

The Chennai Central Crime Branch police opposed the plea in a counter affidavit reported earlier by The Hindu. Police said Mahesh had assured relatives of the absconding accused, Muthukumar, that he was safe and would return in due course.

Prosecutors opposed anticipatory bail on that basis. They said custodial interrogation of Mahesh could establish the whereabouts of the absconding accused. The court dismissed the plea on Monday after hearing the case, with Justice V Lakshminarayanan passing the order and the detailed copy still awaited at the time of the reports.

The case remains under investigation by the Chennai Central Crime Branch. It centres on money collected from private schools in Tamil Nadu on promises of recognition, licences and renewals, an alleged amount put at Rs 100 crore in the reports of the hearing on Monday, October 26, 2026.