Education Department officials caught a 19-year-old boy in Chennai on Wednesday for allegedly impersonating his cousin in the class 10 board exam.

The accused's cousin had been registered as a private candidate for the exam, reports The New Indian Express.

S Satish, the accused, reportedly came to the examination centre at Valluvar Gurukual Higher Secondary School to impersonate his cousin M Raja (24). The candidate was a resident of Kuvathur Karapakam on ECR.

The exam began at 9.30 am and the invigilator noted something suspicious about Satish and caught him just five minutes after students began writing the paper. When the candidate's appearance was crosschecked with the photo on the hall ticket, the lie was busted.

“For the past two years, the hall tickets carry the photo of the candidates. As a result, it’s difficult to impersonate. Sathish’s face looks similar to that of his cousin Raja,” the District Educational Officer, Chengalpattu, told The New Indian Express.

Following this, a squad was reportedly called in and Satish was taken to the police station. A case of cheating, under section 420 (cheating) of the IPC has been registered against the second year diploma student.

The class 10 board examination for the 2016-17 academic year commenced on Wednesday and will end on March 30.

According to The Hindu, there are 3,371 examination centres in Tamil Nadu, of which 209 are in Chennai. The Education minister has said that over 10,00,000 lakh students will be appearing for the class X board exams and strict vigilance is being observed at all centres.

In order to prevent incidents of cheating, 'sufficient invigilators' have been posted at centres. In addition to this, flying squads will be moving in and out of centres.