SRM university chancellor arrested in medical seat scam

Tamil Nadu police on Friday arrested the founder and chancellor of SRM University T R Pachamuthu on the charges of financial irregularities in the allocation of medical seats in his institution.

Though Pachamuthu was questioned by the state’s  Central Crime Branch team, he was formally arrested on Friday under sections of IPC 406, 420, and 34. However, Pachamuthu was first taken to a hospital for a check up and is expected to be produced before the magistrate at night.

According to the case, more than a hundred students had complained that they had been guaranteed medical seats at SRM university, and had paid more than Rs 70 crore altogether for the it, but did not get admission.

The medical seat scam  came to the limelight when the parent of a student, Venkatesan, lodged a complaint at the Chennai police commissioner’s office, claiming that a person called Madhan of Vendhar movies is yet to return the Rs 52 lakh taken from him after promising a medical seat to his son.

Following this,  several parents approached the police and said that they had also paid the money to Madhan, who was said to be very close to Pachamuthu. However, Madhan disappeared in May leaving a note saying that the money collected from the parents has been given to the SRM group. Though Pachamuthu repeatedly denied the claims made by Madhan, pressure from the parents made the police arrest the SRM chancellor.

The police also questioned Pachamuthu with regard to the disappearance of Madhan, who is also a film producer.