A team from the Central Crime Branch of the Chennai City Police conducted simultaneous searches at four locations in Tiruchi and Chennai linked to former DMK Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, including his residence in Tiruchi, on Wednesday (September 16, 2026). The searches were in connection with a case registered against Mr. Poyyamozhi under the Prevention of Corruption Act in an alleged multi-crore fraud involving private schools.
The police alleged that the searches were conducted after it came to light, during investigations by the Central Crime Branch, that Mr. Poyyamozhi had engaged in corruption and committed a breach of trust in the multi-crore fraud, when he was the School Education Minister during the previous DMK regime. Searches were also conducted at two places in Tiruchi and Chennai linked to the former Minister’s aide, Valadi Karthik.
A team from the Central Crime Branch landed at the residence of Mr. Poyyamozhi at Thennur Anna Nagar in Tiruchi on Wednesday morning and launched the operation.
What is the case about?
The Central Crime Branch had previously arrested B.T. Arasakumar, 59, of Saligramam in Chennai in June this year on charges of collecting large sums of money from private school managements for upgrading schools, gaining permanent recognition, and securing building plan approvals, and subsequently cheating them. Arasakumar had run an unregistered association named Tamil Nadu Private Schools Association.
He was arrested by the Central Crime Branch on the basis of a complaint lodged by Ilangovan, secretary, Federation of Associations of Private Schools in Tamil Nadu, with the Chennai City Commissioner of Police. Arasakumar was later detained under the Goondas Act. Two more persons were arrested in connection with the same case and remanded in judicial custody.
The Central Crime Branch has conducted detailed investigations in connection with the case across Tamil Nadu and conducted inquiries with over 250 persons so far. Several government documents were confiscated after inquiries with officials serving in the School Education Department and its offices.
Freezing of bank accounts
A press release from the police said that it came to light during the first stage of the investigation that several crores of rupees had been collected from 177 private schools until then, and a breach of trust had been committed. Bank accounts of persons against whom the charges had been levelled, as well as those of their family members, were frozen in connection with the alleged fraud, after receiving a series of complaints.
A verification of financial transactions made in the 20 bank accounts of Arasakumar, who has been named accused 1 (A-I) in the case, those of his family members, and 29 other bank accounts connected to Muthukumar (accused 2) was under way. Searches were previously conducted at the residences of the accused, offices, private schools, and at the DPI complex in Chennai, where the Directorate of School Education is located, besides at various other locations.
The police said that incriminating documents, posts pertaining to private schools, petitions sent to government offices, mobile phones, computers, hard disks, and other digital evidence were seized as part of the investigation, which is ongoing. The Central Crime Branch had also collected details regarding the role of each person involved in the case, financial transactions, and documents, and their connection has been linked with digital evidence.
In continuation of the ongoing investigation and on the basis of statements given by the witnesses, digital evidence, and government documents, it was found that Mr. Poyyamozhi who was the School Education Minister then had indulged in corruption and committed a breach of trust, the release alleged.
Raid an act of political vendetta: Stalin
DMK president and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin termed the police searches at the houses of Mr. Poyyamozhi an act of political vendetta and a diversionary tactic of the TVK-led government.
In a post on X, Mr. Stalin listed several issues in Tamil Nadu, including protests by people affected by power cuts; protests by fishermen in Pattinapakkam against the construction of an Assembly-Secretariat complex; protests by relatives of those who went missing in Nepal flash floods over not receiving a proper response from the government; people struggling due to a shortage of Aavin milk; a double murder in Ramanathapuram; a government bus driver beaten to death during the Vinayagar Chaturthi procession in Chennai; and the harassment of a woman police constable by a TVK functionary in Ayanavaram.
“Ignoring all these issues that are shaking the State, the Chief Minister [C. Joseph Vijay] is conducting a shoot in London. In frustration over its inability to resolve these issues, the incompetent TVK government has unleashed raids as a weapon against former Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi to divert the people’s attention,” Mr. Stalin said.
He said the DMK would legally fight against what he termed “a blatant act of political vendetta.” Mr. Stalin also said conducting searches against the Opposition cannot ease the people’s anger and that the TVK-led government will soon realise that false allegations will not stand before the law either.
‘TVK govt. targeting DMK leaders’: K.N. Nehru
Former DMK Minister and the party’s principal secretary K.N. Nehru, meanwhile, accused the ruling TVK of deliberately “targeting” and intimidating those in the DMK who had “performed well” on the ground.
In a brief interaction with journalists at Tiruchi, Mr. Nehru said the DMK would face such “raids” on former party Ministers and leaders by the TVK government by approaching the courts to prove their innocence.
Mr. Nehru, who came with a group of party functionaries to the residence of Mr. Poyyamozhi on learning about the searches, said he was told by the police team they had received “instructions from the top” not to allow anyone inside the residence before the completion of the search. Mr. Nehru said Mr. Poyyamozhi had spoken to him over the phone.
When asked whether he believed there was any link between the upcoming bye-election to two Assembly seats in Tamil Nadu and the searches, Mr. Nehru said the TVK government was “targeting” those in the DMK who had served actively on the ground for the people with the intention of intimidating them by conducting such “raids.” Mr. Nehru replied in the affirmative when asked whether the search was an “act of vendetta.”
Published – September 16, 2026 09:40 am IST
