Former Education Minister of Puducherry P.M.L Kalyanasundaram and two others have been cleared of charges in the examination fraud case.
After hearing the case, Additional Sessions Court Judge (Villupuram) Shanmuganathan on Wednesday ruled that none of the sections under which the trio were convicted by the trial court at Tindivanam was applicable and hence their appeal for acquittal was conceded.
The lower court convicted Mr Kalyanasundaram in an alleged impersonation case in the SSLC supplementary examinations held at Tindivanam in 2011, along with an invigilator P.Adhavan and an office assistance of Education Department M.Rajnikanth, for two years by invoking Sections 468 and 471 (producing forged documents as originals) read with 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) and 109 (abetting a crime) of Indian Penal Code.
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The Judge held that no conclusive evidence was produced before the court to prove that the hall ticket issued in the name of Mr Kalyanasundaram and the documents relating to assignment of invigilation duty to Mr Adhavan were forged ones.
Mr Kalyanasundaram was to take the supplementary SSLC examinations in two subjects on successive days. While he was said to have appeared for the first day’s examinations at a Tindivanam examination centre, he failed to turn up for the second one.
There were doubts over whether Mr Kalyanasundaram himself took the examinations or wrote the examination through an impersonator.
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Following a case filed by the Villupuram Education Department (as Tindivanam falls within its jurisdiction) and elaborate investigations and comparing of the handwriting of Mr Kalyanasundaram, the Tindivanam court slapped two years’ imprisonment on all the three named in the case. Later, they went in for appeal in the higher court. Meanwhile, the accusation cost Mr Kalyanasundaram his berth in the N.Rangasamy Cabinet as Education Minister. However, he continues to be an MLA.