Man arrested for allegedly cheating private schools across Tamil Nadu of over ₹100 crore

The Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the Greater Chennai Police, on Saturday, arrested B.T. Arasakumar, 59, who has been running an unregistered association of private schools. He was held for allegedly cheating private school managements across Tamil Nadu of more than ₹100 crore by promising to secure government approvals and recognition for their institutions.

The police said the accused allegedly operated the unregistered organisation under the name of ‘Tamil Nadu Private Schools Association’ and claimed to have political and bureaucratic influence to obtain permanent recognition, school upgradation, DTCP/CMDA approvals and other statutory clearances for private schools.

According to the police, the case was registered following a complaint filed by Ilangovan, secretary of the Federation of Associations of Private Schools in Tamil Nadu. The complainant alleged that over the past two years, several private school managements facing difficulties in obtaining approvals were induced to pay large sums of money after Arasakumar assured them that he would secure the required clearances.

The police said the accused neither obtained the promised approvals nor refunded the money.

Based on the complaint, the Central Crime Branch registered a case and launched an investigation. Acting on the directions of Chennai Police Commissioner A. Amalraj, a special team from the Economic Documents Fraud (EDF-III) Wing, led by Assistant Commissioner V.E. Senthil, arrested Arasakumar on Saturday.

The accused would be produced before the court after interrogation, the police said.