After being sent to 4-day police custody, Jitender Singh Tomar resigns as Delhi Law Minister

 Delhi Law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar was on Tuesday arrested in an alleged fake degree case and later remanded to four-day police custody by a Delhi court. He resigned shortly after that. Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodhia confirmed the fact that underfire minister has tendered his resignation. His resignation has been accepted though AAP has refused to say why Tomar resigned so late. 

49-year-old Tomar was produced before Metropolitan Magistrate Navneet Budhiraja within hours of his arrest in the case. Police sought his five-day custody saying 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.

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.

"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," it said. 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.

Opposing the police's plea, senior advocate H S Phoolka and advocate Rajiv Khosla, who appeared for Tomar, said that police arrested the minister without compliance of the provisions of the law and no notice under section 160 of the CrPC was served to him prior to his arrest. On this issue, the prosecutor said there were no documents to suggest that the accused was served the notice after his arrest.

To this, the magistrate observed, "This notice appears to be farce". During the hearing, the court said, "You (police) have served the notice today. What was the need to arrest him today itself?" Responding to this the prosecutor said, Tomar is an influential person and almost every educational certificate were fabricated and he can also tamper with the evidence.

The prosecutor told the court that Tomar has given BSc degree of Avadh University but during the probe, it was found that the roll number allegedly issued to him was never given by the university. "We had gone to concerned college and the university to enquire about it. The roll number 31331 was not issued to Tomar by the university," he said.

He said that mark sheets of Bsc part two and part three have been allegedly signed by the college principal but the superintendent of the college says that he cannot verify the signature. On defence counsel's submission that the minister be granted interim bail, the police also said they required Tomar's custody to take him to the places from where he had allegedly obtained the fabricated educational certificates and also to ascertain the identity of those persons who have abetted and conspired with him to procure these fake degrees.

"He has the power to fabricate documents within minutes", the police said. The police also told the court that after finishing the alleged BSc degree course, Tomar took admission in the Tilka Manjhi University, Bhagalpur, for his LLB.

It said that the provisional certificate of his alleged BSc degree was signed by one Rajendra Prasad and when the investigator met Prasad, he denied that he has signed any such certificate. The police said that the registration number of Tomar's LLB first year did not match with the University records and they have questioned the controller of exams of the varsity who has said that Tomar's migration certificate was also fake.

The prosecutor told the court that the college from which Tomar did his law degree in 1994-1998, was derecognised by the university in 1990 itself, and thus, there was no question that he completed his course from the college. "We are at an initial stage of the investigation and everything is against this man," the prosecutor said.

As soon as the hearing commenced, Khosla said that notice under section 160(police officer's power to require attendance of witnesses) of the CrPC was served upon the accused after his arrest. "This shows there is political pressure. In no case this happens," he said. Defence counsel also said that the police wanted to take him in custody just to humiliate him and this was nothing but "political vendetta".

At the outset, the magistrate asked the IO, "was there a compliance of the Supreme Court guidelines on arrest? Have you served the notice to him?". Responding to these queries, the IO said "yes".

Phoolka told the court that the high court's order in the matter says that the BCD is still conducting its inquiry. "On May 10, a complaint was given to the BCD. Today at 10 am, 5-6 gypsies with police force came to my (Tomar's) office and said that I was required to go to my house with them. On the way to my house, the police team asked my driver to go home and I was brought to the police station," he said.

"They brought me to the police station and then served the notice (under 160 CrPC) to me. This is not the procedure. This can only happen in 'police raj'," Phoolka said. He said that Tomar has already given the documents related to his educational qualifications to the police and the principal of the college from where the minister has completed his law degree has given an affidavit that Tomar was a student of his college and had completed his law degree.

Alleging that police was biased against Tomar, the defence counsel said, "their job is to fix this man and teach him a lesson. This shows a totally biased probe by the agency. They don't want to arrive at a truth". "After picking me up, the police is asking me to give them the degrees which I have. This is a case where there is a blatant high-handedness... This is a black day in the country and if this 'police raj' will go on, I must say no one is safe," Phoolka said.

The counsel argued that no police remand should be granted as the accused has always cooperated in the probe and there was no apprehension that he would either abscond or tamper with the evidence. "This is happening in the capital of the country under the 'police raj'. This is very unfortunate and sad day in the history of the country. At whose behest they are working?," he said. He said Tomar should be granted interim bail as the process of verification of his educational certificates by the police will take time. 

On the allegation by police that university authorities are not identifying the signatures on the educational certificates, Phoolka said, "If someone cannot identify his signature, how can these documents be said to be fake?" Regarding Tomar's law degree, his counsel referred to the admission register of the college and said the principal of the college has said that Tomar was admitted to the college, he had appeared in examinations and had cleared them also.

Phoolka said the person who has filed the complaint against Tomar in BCD, had deliberately given false roll number. "This is a case of blatant high handedness. I am not going to hide. I am not running away. There is no question of influencing anyone. On the basis of this, the Commissioner of Police should apologise to this man," he said.

He further said, "A person cannot be picked up and kept behind bars and then police will investigate the case." Khosla said, "give me (Tomar) interim bail. Let them investigate whatever they want. I will fully cooperate." At the fag end of the arguments, the magistrate asked the police, "what is the need to take him into custody. They (defence counsel) are saying they will cooperate." Responding to this, the prosecutor said, "We need custody. He (Tomar) has the power to fabricate documents within minutes."

Tomar, MLA from Trinagar and a first time minister, was arrested in the morning following investigation into the complaint by BCD that he had obtained a fake law degree from the Bihar college. An FIR was registered against Tomar last night at Hauz Khas police station and he was booked for alleged offences of cheating, forgery, using forged documents as genuine, forgery with intent to cheat and criminal conspiracy. Tomar was brought to Hauz Khas police station and later shifted to Vasant Vihar police station.