No Law Degree Issued to Jitender Singh Tomar, Says Bhagalpur University

Bhagalpur, Bihar: The Tilka Manjhi University in Bhagalpur town is in the eye of a storm, following the arrest of Delhi's former law minister Jitender Singh Tomar; accused of forgery and faking his degree from Bihar to register himself as a lawyer.

Delhi Police had told a Delhi court yesterday, that it is essential to take Mr Tomar to Bhagalpur, to establish who helped him fake his degree, and officials who were responsible.

At the University's administrative office, Vice Chancellor R S Dubey told NDTV, "so far we have not initiated any enquiry against any University staff.  We answered whatever the court asked us, as an affidavit has been submitted to them. If the cops come, we will cooperate with them."

Sources say the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader could not have managed to secure a fake degree without active help from University officials

Mr Tomar registered himself with the Bar Council of Delhi on the basis of a provisional pass certificate from Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University. But in its internal enquiry, the university found that certificate number 3687 that Mr Tomar claims was his, was issued to one Sanjay Chaudhary for Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Political Science.

Mr Tomar registered with Bhagalpur University as serial number 1306 on 12.04.2001, a requirement for taking University exams. This was a retrospective registration for the year 1994, when he claims that he joined an affiliated college in the adjoining Munger district.

This registration was done on the basis of an alleged migration certificate issued on 20.04.1993 by the Bundelkhand university in Uttar Pradesh.  Bhagalpur University claims that the Bundelkhand university has told them no such migration certificate was issued in Mr Tomar's name.

A senior official at the university told NDTV "it is obvious that officials were involved.  In fact money could also have been involved, but this incident came to light all these years later. Tracing the entire story seems a little difficult for us now."