Puducherry education minister hires proxy to write SSLC exam, exposed

The dream of Puducherry Education Minister PML Kalyanasundaram to have a basic educational qualification for himself turned sour with the Tamil Nadu police registering a case of impersonation, forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy against him.

Kalyanasundaram stands exposed with the authorities catching him red-handed for engaging another person on his behalf for writing the SSLC supplementary examination held by the Tamil Nadu government on September 29.

The Tamil Nadu police registered a case against Kalyanasundaram on Saturday under various sections including cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy of the Indian Penal Code following a complaint by the Tamil Nadu Education Department. The charge against the minister is that he used a proxy to write the examination in Tindivanam in Villupuram district on September 29.

Kalyanasundaram has been asked to be present at the Crime Branch office at Villupuram in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday. The summons was handed over to V Sabapathy, speaker of the Puducherry Assembly on Sunday as Kalyanasundaram was out of town. A school teacher in Tindivanam and an education department official in the district, too, have been booked for their alleged complicity.

Tamil Nadu Education Minister CV Shanmugam said that enquiries held by Education Department officials found there was a prima facie case of impersonation. The police which held a comparison of the handwriting in the answer sheets with that of Kalyanasundaram found that a person other than him had sat for the examination. The minister was absent for the examination held on September 30.

Kalyanasundaram has, however, rejected the charge as 'politically motivated' and said he was ready to face any probe. Chief Minister N Rangasamy had yesterday met the minister at his office and discussed the issue.

The minister had first appeared for SSLC exam in 1991 and passed in three of the five subjects. He had applied for writing Science and Social Sciences in the supplementary exam held on September 29 and 30 stating his centre of preference as Tindivanam, close to Puducherry. The Union Territory does not have a separate education board and follows the syllabus of Tamil Nadu state board.