MADURAI: In a possible larger scam in Class 12 public exams in Tamil Nadu, a CB-CID team arrested nine persons, including four government employees, in Madurai on Thursday night for changing the answer sheets of two Class 12 students in three subjects during the board exam in 2023.
According to CB-CID sources, the arrested were identified as superintendent Rama Prabakaran and junior assistant Kannan of the Madurai District Education Officer (elementary) office; Paramasivan, a government school teacher from Melur; Karthick Raja, lab assistant of Kottampatti government school; parents of the two students and one of the accused students. A search is on to nab the other student who is currently on the run, sources said. The two students were from the same private school in Madurai city.
The malpractice came to light in 2023 when an exam official, during a super check, discovered that the answer sheets of the two students had similar handwriting. Subsequently, authorities found the same handwriting in the answer sheets of three subjects — mathematics, physics and chemistry.
Following this, the school education department issued memos to the students asking them why they should not be debarred for a period of five years for the malpractice. The department also withheld their mark sheets. Sources said the students initially insisted that their answer sheets were genuine, but they later withdrew the statement.
One of the parents approached the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court seeking to quash the memo and direction to the department to issue mark sheet to his son.
The court then directed Tallakulam police to formally register a case upon the complaint of the joint director (higher secondary) and later transferred the case to the CB-CID in November 2023. Another parent filed a similar petition, but the court dismissed it.
According to police, during investigation, it was found that Kannan and Prabakaran, with the help of Paramsivan and Karthick Raja, replaced the answer sheets of the two students by paying them `1 lakh for each paper. The handwriting of one of the four government staff members matched the handwriting found on the answer sheets. The papers have been sent for further analysis, sources said.