Tamil Nadu government arrests former state education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi (Express)

Former Tamil Nadu School Education Minister and senior DMK leader Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi was arrested in Chennai on Monday, hours after the Madras High Court rejected his anticipatory bail petition in an alleged multi-crore fraud involving money collected from private schools in exchange for government approvals.

Justice V Lakshminarayanan dismissed the petition after the Chennai Central Crime Branch (CCB) argued that investigators had gathered sufficient evidence suggesting the former minister’s involvement and that custodial interrogation was necessary.

Poyyamozhi, a close associate of Leader of Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin and a prominent second-generation leader in the DMK’s contemporary leadership, has been named as the fifth accused in the case.

According to the CCB, an unregistered association headed by one B T Arasakumar allegedly collected money from private school managements by promising permanent…