Chennai, Oct 31:
A special court on Friday reserved its orders to November 2 on the Chennai Central Crime Branch (CCB) police plea seeking five days of custody of former Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi for questioning in the alleged Rs 100 crore private school recognition scam.
Mahesh, arrested on October 26, was brought from Puzhal prison and produced before Special Judge L S Sathyamurthy. His bail plea, filed on October 28, will also be heard on November 2. The court directed police to produce him at 11 am.
Opposing police custody, his counsel Abudu Kumar Rajaratnam said Mahesh had lost 2-4 kg and was facing difficulties eating prison food. He alleged that court-ordered dietary facilities and proper sleeping conditions had not been provided. He also pointed out that Mahesh had already been questioned for eight hours in September and had cooperated with the investigation.
The counsel argued that the decision to extend private school recognition from three to 20 years was a collective government decision taken after consultations and not an act of corruption by the former Minister.
Police counsel Usha Rani assured the court that appropriate medical facilities would be provided and that his request for home-cooked food would be examined.