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The Madras High Court has granted time till November 17 for the State to respond to the petition filed by former Education Minister Anbil Mahesh in connection with an alleged corruption case.

Justice V Lakshminarayanan issued notice to the State and directed it to file a counter by November 17. The court adjourned the hearing at the request of the State Public Prosecutor John Sathyan, assisted by Additional Public Prosecutor Arun Anbumani, who informed the court that the remand petition of the 2nd accused (Muthukumar) was being heard by the Special Court today and a detailed counter had to be filed bringing all these facts.

It may be noted that Mahesh has been arrested in connection with an alleged 100 crore scam involving registration of private schools in the State of Tamil Nadu. He was arrested on October 26, 2026, shortly after the High Court had dismissed his anticipatory bail plea. Later, when a petition filed by Mahesh to quash the present FIR was taken up by the High Court, Mahesh's counsel had objected to the manner in which Mahesh was arrested from the advocate's office.

On November 10, the Special Court had dismissed Mahesh's bail plea, observing that the materials available on record would show Mahesh's prima facie involvement in the case. The judge held that being a Minister, Mahesh was responsible for the education and welfare of the students, teachers, parents and other stakeholders in school education.

The court also added that in such cases, the public interest is paramount than Mahesh's right to be enlarged on bail. Thus, considering the initial stage of investigation, custodial interrogation of co-accused, and that other accused were yet to be secured, the court opined that releasing Mahesh on bail would not be proper.

When the matter was taken up today, Senior Advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul submitted that Mahesh has been in custody since October 26. He pointed out that the prime accused in the case has been arrested and in custody since October 20.

Senior Advocate P Wilson, also appearing for Mahesh, submitted that after denial of anticipatory bail, the second accused in the case, Muthukumar, had surrendered before the court. He added that with the surrender of Muthukumar, the concern raised by the court at the time of denial of the anticipatory bail plea no longer existed, and thus, urged the court to release Mahesh on bail.

After hearing the parties, the court directed the State to file a counter and adjourned the hearing.


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