SRM University chancellor T.R. Pachamuthu alias Pari Vendhar was arrested on Friday by the Chennai Central Crime Branch (CCB) after an overnight interrogation in connection with the mysterious disappearance of film producer Madhan and alleged cheating of medical course aspirants. Mr. Pachamuthu, who also heads the Indiya Jananayaga Katchi (IJK), which had allied with the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha and 2016 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, was being questioned by the police since Thursday evening at the old City Police Commissionerate in Egmore. After Mr. Madhan’s family filed a habeas corpus petition in the Madras High Court, some aspiring medical course students and their parents alleged that Mr. Madhan had vanished after collecting several crores of rupees from them promising to get them admission into SRM University. Recently, the Madras High Court rapped the police for not questioning Mr. Pachamuthu’s suspected role in the admission scandal and threatened to transfer the probe to an external agency.

Source: The Hindu August 26, 2016 08:33 UTC