SC gives bail to ex-Puducherry minister

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today granted anticipatory bail to sacked Puducherry Education Minister PML Kalyanasundaram facing charges of impersonation in SSLC exam in Tamil Nadu, though the state opposed the relief, claiming he would tamper with the evidence.A bench of justices Altamas Kabir and S S Nijjar said Kalyanasundaram shall present himself before the investigating officer on December 3 and, thereafter, submit himself before the official as and when required to extend all cooperation in the investigation.The former minister shall also report to the district crime branch on every Monday at 10.30 AM and shall also not leave Puducherry without the prior permission of the trial court in Tamil Nadul, the bench said specifying the bail conditions.Attorney General G E Vahanvati, who was asked by the bench to assist the court, said the state government had already conducted two preliminary enquiries and had collected relevant materials pertaining to the case.Hence, he felt that there was little scope to tamper with the evidence. Senior counsel U U Lalit appeared for the ex-minister.However, Tamil Nadu's Additional Advocate General Guru Krishna Kumar stoutly opposed the bail, arguing that the accused was a former minister and had the propensity to tamper with the evidence and influence witnesses."Public life demands that greater should be the probity for an elected representative and he shall not be given any indulgence," he told the bench.Kalyanasundaram has been evading arrest by Tamil Nadu police since the first week of November after being accused of engaging a proxy to write his SSLC examination at a centre in the neighbouring state.Kalyanasundaram was sacked on November 12 from the Puducherry Cabinet by Chief Minister N Rangasamy."There is nothing much except the differences in the signatures in the additional answer sheets," the bench told the Tamil Nadu counsel during arguments.The apex court, however, clarified that the trial court shall not be influenced by any of its observations while dealing with the case.