₹100-crore private schools fraud case: Madras High Court quashes Arasakumar’s detention under Goondas Act

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B.T. Arasakumar | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The Madras High Court on Monday (September 28, 2026) quashed an order passed by the Greater Chennai Commissioner of Police (GCCP) on July 11, 2026 detaining an unregistered private schools association president B.T. Arasakumar (59) under the Goondas Act on the basis of complaint of him having illegally collected over ₹100 crore from various school managements.

Justices N. Sathish Kumar and K. Rajasekar set aside the preventive detention order on the ground that there was a delay in considering a representation made by the detainee on July 23 for revoking the detention order. The judges agreed with senior counsel P. Wilson that such representations must be considered without delay when an individual’s personal liberty had been curtailed.

The judges allowed a habeas corpus petition filed by the detainee’s wife. She had challenged the detention order also on the ground that no threat had been caused to public order, because of any of the alleged acts committed by her husband, necessitating the invocation of the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug Offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders and Slum- Grabbers, Act, 1982.

On June 23, C. Elangovan, secretary of Tamil Nadu Private Schools Federation, had lodged a complaint with the Commissioner of Police levelling serious charges against Arasakumar who was accused of having collected large sums of money by running an unregistered association named ‘Tamil Nadu Private Schools Association’.

According to the complainant, the detainee had collected money from private school managements by promising to offer services such as obtaining approvals for upgrading schools, gaining permanent recognition, securing building plan approvals and so on “using his proximity” with the then ruling dispensation.

He was also accused of having threatened the private school managements of dire consequences if they reveal about the transactions in public. Hence, the police had registered a First Information Report, arrested and subjected him to custodial interrogation and then invoked the Goondas Act too.

Assailing the preventive detention order passed by the GCCP on July 11, the petitioner said her husband had been taking efforts for long to get the ‘Tamil Nadu Private Schools Association’ registered but it could not be done due to existence of another association with the same name.

She claimed the complaint was the result of a civil dispute between office-bearers of different associations representing private schools in the State and it would have no bearing on maintenance of public order which alone could be a reason to invoke the Goondas Act for preventive detention.

“The detenu is aged about 59 years and has been continuously cooperating with the investigation. He is suffering from severe neck and knee pain, diabetes and hypertension and has remained in custody for a considerable period,” the petitioner had said.

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