Tamil Nadu minister calls Periyar library book procurement row 'India's first AI scam'

Tamil Nadu School Education Minister A Rajmohan has accused the previous DMK government of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to generate books containing fabricated information and carry out large-scale corruption in the procurement of books for the Periyar Arivulagam library in Coimbatore.

Calling it "India's first AI scam", Rajmohan alleged that thousands of poor-quality books were purchased from a single publisher, Agal Vilakku Pathippagam, under the previous regime.

Addressing a press conference in Chennai, he claimed that AI-generated content was passed off as books written by authors with fabricated names, including 'Thamarai Murali', 'Kamalambal Karunanidhi' and 'Trisha Vijay'.

According to the minister, a purchase order was issued to the publisher on February 14, 2026, with instructions to deliver the books within seven days. Payments were released in March, ahead of the elections.

"Disgusting books that are not even worthy of being thrown into the dustbin, with absurd content," Rajmohan said, displaying a copy of the purchase order.

He cited a book that described the classical Tamil work Naaladiyar as the work of an individual philosopher, rather than a collection of verses attributed to Jain monks.

The minister claimed that similar procurements were planned for public libraries in Tiruchirappalli, Salem, Cuddalore and Tirunelveli, involving Rs 50 crore for books and another Rs 5 crore for online books.

The state government has lodged a complaint with the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) and will constitute a special committee to examine procurements at other libraries.

The controversy emerged after Tamil writer Perumal Murugan, a member of the previous government's 137-member book recommendation committee, flagged irregularities in an article published on November 6. He questioned the purchase of nearly 1,800 books from the publisher, citing unusually high prices and factual errors.

The DMK has rejected the allegations. Party leader I Paranthamen called them a "fake narrative" and demanded that the government release purchase records, payment details, and committee recommendations. He also questioned the timeline of the purchases.