TR Pachamuthu is the chancellor of SRM University in Tamil Nadu.
TR Pachamuthu, the chancellor of SRM University in Tamil Nadu, who was arrested by the Chennai Crime Branch on August 25, has built a multi-crore business empire across the state.
According to a report in Scroll.in, Pachamuthu, who was born into an ordinary family in Thandavarayapuram in Attur, near Salem, started his career as a mathematics teacher.
His first venture in the education sector was a few coaching centers set up in Chennai and Salem that provided tuition to diploma holders who wanted to appear for the Associate Member of Institute of Engineers exam (AMIE) which gives them equivalency to engineering graduates.
In 1969, Pachamuthu established the Florence Nightingale Primary School in KK Nagar in Chennai, which was upgraded to a higher secondary school later on.
The rise of the film star MG Ramachandran as one of the prominent politicians of Tamil Nadu has helped him set up an empire spanning across education, transport, media, energy and technology.
Some relatives of Pachamuthu were there in the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government when MGR, as the actor was popularly called, became the chief minister of Tamil Nadu in 1977.
“Some of Pachamuthu’s relatives were in the new AIADMK party. One, in particular, a man called Kovai Thambi, was close to MGR. Kovai Thambi and Pachamuthu belonged to the same Udayar caste. This man was instrumental in helping Pachamuthu get government land on long-term lease in Potheri to start his SRM college. Pachamuthu bought some land, added it to the government’s leased land and started the college. From there, there was no looking back,” a relative of Pachamuthu told Scroll.in on the condition of anonymity.
The SRM engineering college was established in 1985 followed by nursing and pharmacy colleges in the early 1990s. The hotel management college and the arts and science college were found in 1993-’94.
In 2002, SRM Engineering college was given deemed university status by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
1n 2010, Pachamuthu founded his own political party named the Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi (Indian Democratic Party) and launched Tamil news channel Puthiya Thalaimurai (New Generation) in the subsequent year.
Enter S Madhan, who has been missing since May this year, joined the party and started producing films for Pachamuthu from 2011 onwards.
Everything went on well till 2013 when the income tax department conducted raids in the college following the complaints that the authorities were demanding capitation fees for medical seats which were banned by the Supreme Court.
In May this year, the Supreme Court ruled that the admission to MBBS course must be based on the basis of NEET – the National Entrance cum Eligibility Test conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education.
From June 2 onwards, parents and students started filing complaints against the college alleging that the college authorities and Madhan cheated them of capitation fees they had paid.
Madhan’s family alleged that he had paid all the money collected to the chancellor before he went missing. On June 6, Madhan’s mother, Thangam, filed a petition in the Chennai High Court saying that he son was being held by the SRM management.
On August 18, the Madras High Court criticized the Chennai police for not questioning Pachamuthu in connection with the case. On August 25, Pachamuthu was arrested after being interrogated by the crime branch.