File picture of former Delhi Law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar.
The lawyers of former Delhi law minister Jitender Singh Tomar have moved a Delhi court against his arrest. Mr Tomar resigned on Tuesday night as law minister of the Delhi government for allegedly faking a law degree. The court is likely to hear the petition on Thursday.
Police today took Mr Tomar to Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh today as part of the investigation into the allegation that he forged his graduation and law degrees.
He was taken by train from the capital around midnight to Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow and from there by road to Faizabad this morning. The police said they needed to take him there for a spot verification and questioning.
According to sources, the police is trying to find out whether this was isolated incident or part of a racket. Among the witnesses that have been questioned by the police in this regard, at least 50 have said the degrees they have received are fake, sources added.
Mr Tomar says he got his Bachelor of Science degree from Awadh University in Faizabad and LLB or bachelor of law from the Bishwanath Singh Institute of Legal Study College, Munger, affiliated to the Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University in Bihar. The Delhi Police are expected to take him to Bihar next.
He was arrested on Tuesday morning by the Delhi Police, which claims that it has sufficient evidence that the AAP leader forged his degrees. A case of cheating, forgery and conspiracy has been filed against the 49-year-old AAP leader.
AAP is said to be prepping to move the high court.
Mr Tomar has emphatically denied the accusations. "My degree is absolutely genuine. It is a conspiracy by the BJP and the central government. Yes, they are not letting the AAP government work," he told reporters this morning at the Lucknow railway station.
Mr Tomar sent his resignation to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal after a Delhi court sent him to four days in police custody on Tuesday night, saying he was resigning because he did not want the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government's image to be tarnished.
The Delhi Police has alleged that a nearly month-long investigation has found that Mr Tomar not only submitted a fake science graduation degree and law mark sheets to register with the Bar Council of Delhi, but also forged a migration certificate.
The police said a first information report or FIR was registered and Mr Tomar was arrested only after it found concrete evidence of wrongdoing following a complaint by Bar Council of Delhi Secretary Punit Mittal on May 11.
Mr Tomar's arrest comes amid a bitter turf battle between the AAP government and Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, who represents the Centre in Delhi.