New Delhi: Delhi Law Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Jitendra Singh Tomar was on Tuesday arrested in connection with the fake degree row.
Tomar has been facing charges that academic certificate he submitted while filing nomination for the Delhi Assembly polls held in February this year was fake.
Delhi Police have registered FIR against Delhi Law minister under IPC Section 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120 B.
Commenting on Tomar’s arrest, AAP leader Sanjay Singh accused the BJP of indulging in vendetta politics. Shortly after the Law minister’s arrest, the AAP leader spoke to ANI and hit out at Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi for targetting his party members.
“The BJP government at the Centre cannot suppress our voice by sending our leaders to jail,” Singh said.
Tomar has claimed that he had completed his law education from the Tilak Manjhi Bhagalpur University in Bihar.
The AAP leader’s counsel on May 27 had informed the HC his client, as per the records of a law college in Bihar, had studied there for three years and completed his degree.
Justice Rajiv Shakdher was further informed by Tomar`s counsel senior advocate AS Chandhiok that he was a bonafide student for three years in Bishwanath Singh Institute of Legal Study College in Munger.
Affidavit submitted to the court by Tomar`s counsel, which was filed by college`s principal, said as far as the “information regarding Tomar is concerned, the records reveal that Jitender Singh Tomar was a student of this college in LLB Part I, II, and III in the session 1994-95, 1995-96 and 1997-98, respectively”.
Earlier, the university authorities had placed before the Delhi High Court in April its enquiry report stating that the serial number of the provisional certificate in the record showed the name of some other person and not that of Tomar.
The court had also sought reply from the Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University (UP), from where the law minister said he had graduated in science.
Bar Council members of Delhi, who wanted to be impleaded as a party in the petition, had informed the court that they had received information from Avadh University that Tomar’s graduation degree is allegedly “fake”.
