CHENNAI: A special court for prevention of corruption cases in Chennai on Friday deferred to Nov 2 its order on the application moved by Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the city police seeking five days of custody of former school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi for interrogation in connection with Rs 100crore private schools recognition cheating case.After several hours of argument, special judge L S Sathyamoorthy sent Anbil Mahesh back to judicial custody with a direction to produce him before the court at 11am on Nov 2.Anbil Mahesh was arrested on Oct 26, after the Madras high court refused anticipatory bail to him.Representing the former minister, senior advocate Abudukumar Rajarathinam contended that Anbil Mahesh had already cooperated with the investigation. He pointed out that searches were conducted at properties belonging to him on Sept 16 and that he was questioned for eight hours on Sept 18.“He answered more than 200 questions and furnished documents sought by the investigating officers,” Rajarathinam said.He said the GO extending the recognition renewal period for private schools from three years to 20 years had been issued after consultations involving several departments. Anbil Mahesh, who was the then school education minister, had merely forwarded the schools’ representation to officials for consideration. “He cannot be implicated in the case for a collective policy decision,” he added.He further argued that the custody application had been moved to thwart the bail application moved by Anbil Mahesh. Claiming that the former minister had lost considerable body weight due to inadequate food in prison and the senior counsel requested the court to permit him to avail home-cooked food and medicines.Representing the CCB, special public prosecutor for prevention (SPP) of corruption cases, Usha Rani submitted that adequate medical facilities would be provided in prison and sought time to respond to the request for home food.She added that custodial interrogation was necessary to establish the money trail, examine the properties held by Anbil Mahesh and his family members, identify benami assets, and investigate the role of former DMK MLA Muthukumar.
