The arrest of former law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar in connection with fake degrees has opened a Pandora’s box for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Fomer MlA from Rohini Rajesh Garg has alleged that 12 AAP MlAs, including Karol Bagh MlA Vishesh Ravi, possess fake educational degrees, which also involve another Delhi Cabinet Minister. Garg has filed a written complaint at Prashant Vihar police station.
Take the curious case of Vishesh Ravi, the AAP MlA from Karol Bagh seat. In his affidavit for 2013 Assembly polls, Ravi’s documents claimed that he pursued B.Com Pass degree from Chaudhary Charan Singh University in 2008 whereas his 2015 affidavit states that he was pursuing BA from IGNOU. In 2003, he passed Class X and XII in 2005 from Uttar Pradesh board.
“Vishesh Ravi’s documents have found to be forged. The fact that the 2013 affidavit claims that he attained a B.Com degree in the year 2008 which clashes with 2015 affidavit stating that he was pursuing
BA programme from IGNOU automatically goes to show that he didn’t pursue BCom in the first place. This means what he stated earlier was wrong,” said Garg.
“The 12 names also include a Cabinet Minister who possesses a fake degree. Surender Singh’s degrees have also come out to be fake,” he added. Garg demanded an Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) enquiry into the issue to unveil the truth. He also argued that candidates who fought 2013 Assembly elections and 2015 Assembly polls should go through a proper enquiry as the documents have found to contain discrepancies.
Surender Singh, who represents the Delhi Cantonment constituency, is now accused by a BJP leader Karan Singh Tanwar of ‘misrepresenting’ himself before Election Commission to be a 2012-batch graduate from Sikkim University.
The allegation has been levelled by Tanwar on the basis of an RTI reply given by the varsity to one Mukesh Sharma.
According to the petitioner, the varsity said it did not have any record of a student named Surender Singh. “As per the academic record of the year 2014-15 and all the past academic years, there is no student by the name Surender Singh,” the RTI reply of the Sikkim University read.
Police has initiated probe against Surender Singh after the complaint. A team of officers has been sent to Sikkim Manipal University to verify the documents.