Chennai, Oct 29 (PTI) Former DMK Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi has moved the Madras High Court seeking to quash the FIR against him in an alleged scam involving bribes running into crores for recognition and approvals for private schools.
When the petition came up for hearing on Thursday before Justice V Lakshminarayanan, senior counsel P Wilson appeared on behalf of the DMK leader.
Wilson conveyed to the judge that on October 26, 2026, he was waiting for a copy of the High Court order dismissing Poyyamozhi’s anticipatory bail petition.
Against this background, that day, his client Poyyamozhi came to his office to discuss a further course of action.
However, all of a sudden, the police barged into his office and arrested him, he complained to the judge.
Richardson Wilson, another counsel for Poyyamozhi, submitted that in a first such incident, 40 policemen stood on the staircase –from the ground floor till the third floor — of his office.
In the middle of a discussion between him and Poyyamozhi, suddenly, the investigating officer came inside the office and arrested the former minister.
“How can the police come to an advocate’s office and arrest a person who has come to discuss his case. There was no protection for advocates,” he said.
Condemning the conduct of the police, Wilson submitted that the police entering into an advocate’s office and arresting his client was violative of Article 21 of the Constitution.
There was no urgency to go inside the office and arrest him.
Some decorum should be maintained, and the court should frame a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the police before effecting arrest, he added.
Public Prosecutor R John Sathyan and Additional Public Prosecutor Arun Anbumani submitted that the police went to the advocate’s office since they received information that Poyyamozhi had gone to his advocate’s office.
They waited patiently outside for more than one and a half hours. Poyyamozhi was asked to come outside. The police did not go inside the office. When Poyyamozhi came out, the police arrested him outside the advocate’s office, they added.
Pointing out the order of the Special Court, wherein it was recorded that the police arrested Poyyamozhi outside the advocate’s office, the judge asked senior counsel Wilson to challenge that order, if he desires so.
Later, Justice Lakshminarayanan posted to November 10, further hearing of the petition filed by Poyyamozhi, which sought to quash the FIR registered against him in this case. PTI COR VGN KH
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