Fake degree row: Delhi Law Minister Tomar resigns after court remands him to 4-day police custody

June 10, 2015

New Delhi, Jun 10: Under immense political pressure in a case involving his educational qualifications, Delhi Law Minister Jitendra Singh Tomar on Tuesday submitted his resignation to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal hours after a Delhi court remanded him to four-day police custody.

Fake degree"Jitendra Singh Tomar has put in his papers a while back. CM Arvind Kejriwal has accepted the resignation," Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia told Zee News late Tuesday evening, adding that the resignation letter will be forwarded to L-G Najeeb Jung on Wednesday morning.

Forty-nine-year-old Tomar was produced before Metropolitan Magistrate Navneet Budhiraja within hours of his arrest in the case, which took place in the wee hours of Tuesday.

The Delhi Police had sought his five-day custody claiming that his educational certificates relating to law degree were "fabricated" and he was required to be taken to Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh and Bhagalpur in Bihar to ascertain his educational qualification.

An FIR was registered against Tomar on Monday night in Hauz Khas Police Station and he was slapped with charges under various sections of the IPC including those related to cheating and criminal conspiracy.

Tomar was interacting with a group of people in his office in Trinagar when about 30-40 policemen took him away on the pretext of getting some documents and then drove him to the Hauz Khas police station, according to his staff.

What happened inside court

The Delhi Police told the court that the educational certificates which Tomar claims to be true were fabricated and during their initial probe, the authorities who signed those certificates have denied their genuineness.

"Everything (documents) is something which either is denied by the institution or we don't know as to how these documents came into light. For this we need Tomar's interrogation," the police said, adding, that "according to him (Tomar), all these documents (educational certificates) are allegedly true but all those who allegedly signed these documents say they have not signed it."

The investigating officer (IO) told the court that on the basis of a complaint given by Bar Council of Delhi (BCD), a preliminary enquiry was conducted and after taking reports from concerned universities, an FIR was lodged in the case.

During the hearing, the court asked the Delhi Police, "You (police) have served the notice on Tuesday. What was the need to arrest him on Tuesday itself?"

"He has the power to fabricate documents within minutes", the police said, when the defence counsel asked the court to grant Tomar interim bail.

Is Tomar a mafia man, asks AAP

Terming the arrest "totally unconstitutional", Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said it was an attempt by the Modi government to "teach AAP a lesson" and asserted that no one involved in corruption will be spared.

"Attempts are being made to create an Emergency-like situation in Delhi through dictatorship as we have come down hard on those involved in corruption," said Sisodia.

Accusing police of treating Tomar as a "mafia", Sisodia said they forcibly put him into a car without giving any specific reason and seized his vehicle before bringing him to the police station.

"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," Sisodia said.

Don't fight with everyone, BJP tells Kejriwal

After the arrest of Delhi Law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar and AAP alleging political vendatta, BJP asked CM Arvind Kejriwal to respect the law and not pick up a fight with everyone.

"Kejriwal has got a decisive mandate. He should work. Mr Kejriwal, governance is a serious business. Please govern. He should respect the law," Union Minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

He said Kejriwal is picking up fights with everyone, be it within his party, with his officers, with BJP leaders and now with Prime Minister Narendra Modi since morning ever since his Law Minister was arrested.

"What is the point of fighting with everyone, you should do work instead, which is more important," he said.

No political vendetta behind complaint, says BCD chief

The Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) Chairman on Tuesday claimed there was no 'political vendetta' behind the complaint lodged by the organisation against Law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar for allegedly obtaining fake degree and his subsequent arrest.

BCD Chairman K K Manan alleged that Tomar's law degrees were forged and they had given a complaint to Delhi Police on 11 May in this regard and the police, after taking cognisance of it, lodged an FIR and arrested the minister this morning.

He also raised questions as to why Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was favouring Tomar, instead of getting verified the Law Minister's claim that his degrees were genuine.

"Instead of shunting out this person, the chief minister and the party are creating 'halla gulla' (ruckus). Why the CM has not got Tomar's claim verified, he has all the infrastructure to get it done," Manan said, adding that "there is no political vendetta in this (behind Tomar's arrest)".

At a press conference earlier on Tuesday, Delhi Police said K S 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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News Network
January 17,2020

New Delhi, Jan 17: Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia does not have any car on his name, according to information shared in the poll affidavit filed by him for Delhi elections.

In the affidavit, it is also shown that while his self-acquired immovable property remained roughly the same as in 2015. His wife's self-acquired immovable property is worth roughly about Rs 65 lakh, as per his latest affidavit.

In the papers submitted during the nomination for 2015 Delhi polls, the senior AAP leader had declared that he owned a Maruti Swift car of make 2013.

However, in his 2020 affidavit, he has mentioned "nil" in the column for motor vehicles and other means of transport.

In the affidavit submitted on Thursday, his moveable assets were declared worth Rs 4,74,888 for 2018-19, as against Rs 4,92,624 for 2013-14.

In 2015, Sisodia had informed in his affidavit that he had bought a property in Vasundhara, Ghaziabad, worth Rs 5.07 lakh in April 2001. The approximate current market value of self-acquired property in 2015 was Rs 12 lakh.

In his current affidavit, the AAP leader has mentioned the same property. However, the approximate current market value of self-acquired property in 2020 has increased to Rs 21 lakh.

In his affidavit for the 2015 polls, Sisodia had also said that his wife had purchased a property in March 2008 costing Rs 8.70 lakh. At that time, the approximate value of her self-acquired property was Rs 20 lakh.

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February 29,2020

New Delhi, Feb 29: Former Union Minister M J Akbar told a Delhi court on Friday that journalist Priya Ramani had defamed him by calling him with adjectives such as 'media's biggest predator' in the wake of #MeToo movement in 2018 that harmed his reputation.

M J Akbar made the allegations before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vishal Pahuja through his lawyer during the final hearing of a private criminal defamation complaint filed by him against Priya Ramani. Akbar resigned as Union minister on October 17, 2018.

Ramani in 2018 accused Akbar of sexual misconduct around 20 years ago when he was a journalist.

Senior advocate Geeta Luthra, appearing for Akbar, said that the allegations were intentional and malafide.

“When you call someone media's biggest predator, it is per se defamatory. Calling a person with such adjectives is on the face of it defamatory. In the eyes of the people, Akbar's reputation was harmed... The per se effect was lowering of my (Akbar) reputation in the eyes of the right thinking members of the society,” she told the court.

She said there was no due process in the allegations. “It has a cascading effect. Embarrassing questions were asked. I (Akbar) am a person of greatest integrity... There was no due process in the allegations. You cannot just make allegation and let that person suffer,” she added.

Luthra said that if there was any grievance, it had to be raised then and there before the appropriate authority.

“We need to realise the effect has what we say or what we do. It's not like she went to any authority or raised any grievance. Opportunity was there, rights were there but to attack so person behind their back on social media...knowing that his whole life will be adversely affected? It's not right,” she said.

M J Akbar has denied all the allegations of sexual harassment against the women who came forward during #MeToo campaign against him.

Akbar had earlier told the court that the allegations made in an article in the 'Vogue' and the subsequent tweets were defamatory on the face of it as the complainant had deposed them to be false and imaginary and that an “immediate damage” was caused to him due to the “false” allegations by Priya Ramani.

Ramani had earlier told the court that her “disclosure” of alleged sexual harassment by Akbar has come at “a great personal cost” and she had “nothing to gain” from it.

She had said her move would empower women to speak up and make them understand their rights at workplace.

Several women came up with accounts of the alleged sexual harassment by M J Akbar him while they were working as journalists under him.

He has termed the allegations “false, fabricated and deeply distressing” and said he was taking appropriate legal action against them.

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News Network
May 12,2020

New Delhi, May 12: Stranded for over 50 days due to the lockdown and suspension of passenger train services, many people in the national capital will finally be able to reach their destinations in different parts of the country after the railways resumed services on Tuesday.

Three special AC trains will leave the New Delhi railway station for Dibrugarh, Bengaluru and Bilaspur.

The train to Dibrugarh in Assam will leave at 4.45 p.m, while the one leaving for Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh and Bengaluru in Karnataka will leave the New Delhi station at 5.30 p.m and 9.15 p.m respectively.

Entry to the station has been facilitated from the Paharganj side for all confirmed ticket holders. No entry for passengers holding such tickets will be permitted from the Ajmeri Gate side, the railways said.

Railway authorities have put barricades outside the station premises and only those with confirmed tickets are being allowed to enter.

All passengers are undergoing thermal screening before entering the station premises. For this purpose, they have also been asked to reach the station 90 minutes prior to the departure of the train.

A senior Railway Police Force officer said every passenger is being subjected to thermal screening. Hand sanitiser machines have also been placed at the entrance and the passengers are being advised to sanitise their hands before entering the station premises.

Syed Yasir, a private retail sector executive, said due to the resumption of services he will now be able to go to Nagpur to be with his family on Eid. 

Surendra, an engineer with a PSU, was on an assignment in Agra when the lockdown was announced. After the Railways decided to resume passenger train services, he came to Delhi in a private vehicle to board the train to Bengaluru.

"I was on an assignment in Agra where I was stuck. I have come from Agra in a private vehicle and now going to board the train to Bengaluru," Surendra, who identified himself with his first name, said.

Five more trains bound for Delhi will leave from Patna, Bengaluru, Howrah, Mumbai and Ahmedabad, the railways said.

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