PML Kalyanasundaram accused of using proxy in examination

CHENNAI: Puducherry, which has a literacy rate of 87% — higher than the national average of 74% — has a contrast which is embarrassing for the state. Its Minister for Education PML Kalyanasundaram is facing charges of using a proxy to write his Class 10 supplementary examination at a centre in Tamil Nadu in September.

He has been evading arrest since the Madras High Court on Tuesday rejected his anticipatory bail petition. Puducherry does not have a separate school syllabus. Kalyanasundaram had registered for the Tamil Nadu School Board examination and opted for an examination centre in Tamil Nadu.

To nab the minister is a challenge for both the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry governments. Tamil Nadu Police has stepped up efforts to arrest Kalyanasundaram. Its teams are camping in different pockets in Puducherry to arrest him. They have also sought cooperation of their Puducherry counterparts.

“He is absconding and we have a crime branch team leading the investigation,” Villupuram SP N Baskaran told ET. Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy has not paid heed to the demands to drop the minister, despite the Congress and AIADMK highlighting the incongruity of an education minister being charged with examination-related fraud.