Chennai: The plea is listed before special judge L S Sathyamurthy. Poyyamozhi has been in Puzhal central prison since his arrest on Monday, with judicial custody running to 6 November.
He was picked up from an apartment in Aminjikarai within hours of the Madras High Court dismissing his anticipatory bail plea on Monday.
The Central Crime Branch told the court it needs custody to question him about his alleged links with absconding former MLA Muthukumar, the identities of those who paid and the sums involved, the possible role of other intermediaries, and the money transactions in the case. In his bail plea, Poyyamozhi argued that there is no material to show he would flee, tamper with evidence or influence witnesses.
On Wednesday, CCB teams searched the Perungudi residence of textile businesswoman Shanmugapriya and seized some electronic devices, according to a police release. Investigators say they are tracing the money trail and the role of other associates.
The case was registered on a complaint by DC Ilangovan, secretary of the Federation of Associations of Private Schools in Tamil Nadu. He alleged that a network collected money from school managements promising permanent recognition, upgradation, DTCP clearance and other statutory permissions. Police say 177 schools have been linked to the alleged collection of more than Rs 100 crore, described in the complaint as a "party fund" raised during Poyyamozhi's tenure as school education minister from 2021 to 2026.
B T Arasakumar, president of the Tamil Nadu Private Schools Association, was arrested on 27 June. Muthukumar remains absconding, and the Supreme Court has refused to interfere with the denial of his anticipatory bail.
In a parallel set of actions, police arrested Vellore DMK councillor Teeta Saravanan in Villupuram over a widely shared video of remarks purportedly about the 2025 Karur stampede. Vepery police have also registered a case against DMK MLA P K Sekar Babu, MP Kalanidhi Veeraswamy and eight others for a ruckus outside the Greater Chennai Police commissioner's office on Monday night.
The allegations have not been established in court. DMK president M K Stalin has called the arrest political vendetta, while the ruling TVK's ministers say the sums collected were larger.