CCB summons former Minister Anbil Mahesh in ₹100-crore fraud case

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The Chennai Central Crime Branch (CCB) has summoned former School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh to appear for an inquiry on Friday in connection with a ₹100-crore fraud case involving alleged promises to secure government approvals for private schools.

According to sources, Mr. Anbil Mahesh has been asked to appear before the investigating officer at the Greater Chennai City Police Commissionerate.

The summons comes a day after CCB teams conducted searches at nine locations in Chennai and Tiruchi as part of the investigation. The searches were carried out at four premises linked to Mr. Anbil Mahesh and locations associated with his aides Valadi Karthik, Arun Prakash and Prakash.

The case was registered following a complaint that several crores of rupees had been collected from private school managements by promising to secure permanent recognition, upgradation of schools, DTCP approval and other government permissions.

Three persons — B.T. Arasakumar, Suresh and Raja — have already been arrested in the case and remanded in judicial custody.

During the investigation, CCB personnel questioned several persons and examined documents and electronic evidence. Based on the findings, a case was registered under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act against Mr. Anbil Mahesh, who was the School Education Minister at the time.

The searches resulted in the seizure of 118 documents related to the case, besides property documents, bank details and cheques. Police also seized 18 mobile phones, three laptops, eight pen drives, two desktop computers with inbuilt hard disks, a tablet and an Apple iPad.

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