Delhi University claims NSUI national secretary has fake MA degree

Days after the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) called out Delhi University Student Union (DUSU) president Ankiv Basoya for allegedly submitting a fake degree, the party has found itself in the thick of similar controversy. The Delhi University on Monday said that the NSUI national secretary Akshay Kumar had allegedly submitted fake documents to get admission in the Department of Buddhist Studies.

According to the official, the matter came to light as early as January this year when the department got degrees of all students who had enrolled in Ph.D course, verified. "Kumar, who was also elected as the joint secretary of Delhi University Students' Union in 2010, was found to have allegedly submitted a fake MA (English) mark sheets. The department also registered an FIR at the Maurice Nagar police station in north district on March 16," he said.

According to the FIR, Kumar had enrolled for the PhD programme in March 2017 and had submitted MA (English) mark sheets from Manav Bharti University in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh. The university, however, denied issuing mark sheet to him when they were sent to the varsity for verification, the department has alleged in the FIR. The official said in the further course of action, the department will take up the matter with the Departmental Research Committee (DRC) with a copy of the FIR and alleged forged documents. They will also recommend to cancel his admission. The DRC will then forward the recommendation to the Board of Research Studies of the varsity which will further decide upon it.

Meanwhile, Saimon Farooqui, the all-India media and communications manager of the Congress-affiliated NSUI blamed rival Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for raking up the issue to deflect attention from Basoya's case."The ABVP is raking up these issues to deviate attention from the actual issue (involving Baisoya). If the FIR was registered a few months ago, why is it being highlighted now? If the matter comes to our notice (of Kumar's fake degree), we will set up an investigative committee to look into the case," he added.