Former minister Poyyamozhi’s remand over private school bribery case extended
The public prosecutor argued that granting bail at this stage could hamper the investigation.
On November 6, 2026, Chennai's special court extended the remand of former School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi in a bribery case related to private school approvals until November 18. Poyyamozhi was arrested on October 26 by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) police following a raid at his office. He had previously moved the court for bail, and on Friday, through a video conferencing facility, he appeared before Special Judge L.S. Sathyamurthy who ordered the extension of remand.
Poyyamozhi's senior counsel, Abudukumar Rajarathinam, argued that his client had fully cooperated with CCB police during three days of custodial interrogation. Rajarathinam also questioned the jurisdiction of the CCB, citing the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) as the designated agency for corruption cases. The lawyer challenged the changing estimates of the bribes allegedly collected by Poyyamozhi, stating that the amount had been initially pegged at ₹100 crore and subsequently increased.
State Public Prosecutor R. John Sathyan opposed the bail plea, claiming that an accused, Muthukumar, was absconding and that the police had video evidence of Saravanan transporting money to Poyyamozhi's residence. However, the police later referred to Saravanan as being on the run. The prosecutor also sought directions for the prosecution to produce their statements and questioned the number of accused allegedly absconding. The court reserved its orders on the bail petition for November 10.
Written by urgent.news from The Hindu's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
