CHENNAI: Former Tamil Nadu school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi on Thursday wondered why the owners of the private schools that have alleged to have paid bribe to secure the 20-year recognition for their schools have not been arrested or at least added as accused in the Rs 100crore private schools cheating case.




Those who allegedly paid bribes, which is an offence, are all living in their homes. The Chennai Central Crime Branch (CCB) police have not taken any against them while they have arrested the former minister and subjected him to custodial interrogation, senior advocate Abdu Kumar Rajarathnam for Anbil Mahesh argued on his bail application before the Chennai special court for corruption cases.




Private schools made representations that the practice of obtaining recognition once every three years had led to corruption. Following this, the then govt had sought the opinion of the then advocate general to resolve the issue and eventually issued a GO introducing a system of granting recognition once every 20 years, he said.




The issuance of the GO was a collective decision of the govt and the officials of the department. The former minister alone could not be blamed for it, he added.




The entire case had been registered based on the statements given by those who allegedly paid bribes to Arasakumar. But why those who had admitted paying bribes had not been arrested, the senior counsel asked.




"Those who have admitted to paying bribes and gave statements should be treated as accused persons," he added.




Opposing the bail application, state public prosecutor John Sathyan submitted that initially, the complainant was unaware of Anbil Mahesh's involvement and only after investigation did his involvement come to light. The case was not politically motivated.




The absconding accused no. 2 -- Muthukumar -- surrendered two days after Anbil Mahesh's arrest. Anbil Mahesh had provided shelter to him. Muthukumar was the person who collected the money. His driver Saravanan had allegedly taken the money to Anbil Mahesh's residence. The police had video evidence in this regard. Saravanan was currently absconding, he added.




"Under the BNSS, the police could take an accused into custody for interrogation for up to 60 days. As fresh evidence had emerged during the investigation, Anbil Mahesh needed to be interrogated again in custody. Granting bail at this stage would affect the investigation," he said.




Recording the submissions, special judge L S Sathiyamurthy deferred his orders on the bail application to Nov 10.