New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Jitender Singh Tomar who resigned on Tuesday as Delhi law minister is being taken by the police for questioning to Faizabad where he allegedly got a fake BSC degree for himself. Tomar was arrested on Tuesday in the fake law degree case.
49-year-old Tomar, MLA from Trinagar and a first-time minister, was remanded to four-day police custody by a city court hours after he was arrested for allegedly forging his science graduation, law mark sheets and a migration certificate.
Investigators said that an FIR was registered and the Law Minister was arrested after nearly a month-long investigation established that the documents he submitted in 2011 to register with the Bar Council of Delhi were fake.
Claiming that there was nothing wrong in his degree, Tomar said he quit "on grounds of morality. I will fight this case through and win. After this, I will work for the party."
The arrest came in the midst of a raging battle between the AAP government and Delhi Lt Governor Najeeb Jung over the powers of the city government, giving a new political twist to the unsavoury fight. Amidst the ongoing turf war, Kejriwal is likely to meet Jung on Wednesday. The AAP has accused the Centre of trying to destablilise the Delhi government. Delhi Jal Board Vice Chairman Kapil Mishra is the front runner for the post of Delhi Law Minister.
Parallely, the AAP government and Jung continued their fight over the appointment of ACB chief and an official who issued the order appointing Delhi Police Joint Commissioner MK Meena to the probe agency.
Stung by the arrest, AAP unleashed a stinging attack on the Modi government accusing it of political vendetta and creating an "Emergency-like" situation in Delhi to avert the city government's crackdown on corruption. AAP also alleged that the arrest "conspiracy" was hatched in the Union Home Minister's office at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the party would not be cowed down but fight back.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh rubbished the charge saying his ministry did not order the arrest which Police Commissioner B S Bassi said was done within the purview of law and after following due procedures.
"Tomar was arrested as if he was a mafia. Was he running away? Did he set off a bomb? What was the emergency, especially when a scam is being reopened? There's a deep underlying reason behind his arrest. "This is an attempt to teach AAP a lesson. We would not spare anyone who will come in the way of our fight against corruption. His college affidavit clearly states that he has passed his law degree," Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia said.
Both BJP and Congress demanded resignation of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal taking moral responsibility.
At a press conference, Delhi Police said KS Saket Post-Graduation College in Ayodhya have told the investigators that no B Sc degree and marks sheets were issued in the name of Jitender Singh Tomar. The police said the Tilkamanjhi University in Bihar's Bhagalpur also termed Tomar's law degree fake. Law College in Bihar's Munger from where Tomar claimed he studied law is affiliated to Tilkamanjhi University.
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