Enforcement Directorate sleuths grill Vendhar movies S Madhan

Chennai: Sleuths from the Enforcement Directorate in Chennai on Tuesday grilled Vendhar movies S.Madhan after registering a case under the prevention of money laundering Act (PMLA) against him. Madhan was allegedly involved in collection of Rs 75.39 crore cash on behalf of SRM medical college from aspiring medical students. The ED team questioned him from 1.30 pm to 6.30 pm on Tuesday and he reportedly cooperated, answering all the questions raised by the investigators. Madhan is on bail after having been lodged in Puzhal prison for nearly 4 months following his arrest on November 21 by Chennai CCB team when he was traced to his friend's house in Tirupur near the end of his 6-month escapade.

Madhan was arrested by CCB in November based on a complaint from Dr. Jayachandran. Police have registered the case under the IPC Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) and 420 (cheating). The SRM Group of institutions is also named as an accused in the case in which a total of 109 complaints from medical seat aspirants and their kin who were cheated to the tune of Rs 75.39 crore.

Madhan is believed to have collected the money on behalf SRM group chairman Pachamuthu. On May 28, after Madhan 'went missing', a letter purportedly written by him, was circulated on WhatsApp. It claimed he was going to Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh to attain 'samadhi'. Later, Madhan's wife Sumalatha and other family members expressed to the media their fears that the SRM group was behind Madhan's disappearance.

Following his disappearance, medical seat aspirants who had paid money to Madhan, began lodging complaints with the police resulting in the probe of a multi-crore medical seat scam. The probe led to the arrest of Pachamuthu in August and the court enlarged him on bail in September.