Delhi law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar resigned from his post late on Tuesday night after a city court remanded him to four-days’ police custody on charges of cheating and fraud in obtaining his law and Bachelor of Science degrees.
The 49-year-old Minister was arrested by the Delhi Police from outside his house in Shakurpur area in North-West Delhi on Tuesday morning when he was leaving for office. This is the first-ever arrest of a Minister in the Delhi Government.
The arrest came in the midst of a raging battle between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government and lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung over the powers of the Delhi Government.
The arrest triggered a no-holds barred attack by AAP Government and it accused the Centre of creating an “Emergency-like situation” in the Capital to avert the
Delhi Government’s crackdown on corruption.
Terming the arrest “totally unconstitutional”, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said it was an attempt by the Modi Government to “teach AAP a lesson” and asserted that no one involved in corruption would be spared.
“Attempts are being made to create an Emergency-like situation in Delhi through dictatorship as we have come down hard on those involved in corruption,” said Sisodia.
Soon after the arrest at about 10.30 am, AAP leaders staged a protest against the Centre and termed the move as political vendetta.
One of the AAP leaders alleged that the arrest “conspiracy” was hatched in Union Home Minister’s office and the party would not be cowed down but fight back.
However, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh rubbished the AAP’s charge that the arrest was a conspiracy hatched in his Ministry, saying the Ministry of Home Affairs did not order that.
“The Ministry of Home Affairs does not indulge in such activities. The law takes its own course. There is no interference by the MHA in any such matter,” he said in lucknow.
Metropolitan Magistrate (MM) Navjeet Budhiraja allowed the Delhi Police to interrogate Tomar for four days. The Delhi Police had asked for five days’ remand as they wanted to question Tomar in connection with a First Information Report (FIR) lodged at Hauz Khas Police Station.
The police counsel also contended before the court that Tomar was an influential person and could tamper with evidence.
However, Tomar’s counsel HS Phoolka opposed the remand application saying Tomar’s documents were not false and police had arrested him on the basis of an FIR.
Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi said that the Minister was arrested following proper investigations into the complaint lodged by the Delhi Bar Council at Hauz Khas Police Station on May 11. He said the arrest had been carried within the purview of law and prescribed norms for arresting a Minister were followed.
“There are certain procedures which need to be followed while arresting a Minister and they have been followed in this case. The complaint had come to us a long time ago and we have seriously looked into the matter. Action has been taken within the legal framework,” Bassi said.
A case under Sections 420 (cheating), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 467 (forgery) and 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered.
Bar Council chief KK Manan told The Pioneer that they had received three complaints against Tomar about his fake BSc and law degrees in January and February. Tomar had obtained his BSc degree from Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh and llB degree from Tilka Manjhi University Bhagalpur, in Bihar.
“We immediately swung into action and initiated an internal probe. During the probe, we found that the certificates he had submitted to get the Bar Council license were forged and we finally decided to go to the police,” Manan said.
After Tomar’s arrest police took him to the office of Anti-Auto Theft Squad (AATS) of South District police in Vasant Vihar to prevent any protests by AAP workers at Hauz Khas Police Station that is located just beside the South District’s DCP’s office.
In the meantime, AAP leaders flooded the social media with news of Tomar’s arrest. Two AAP leaders, Ashutosh and Kumar Vishwas also reached the AATS office along with hundreds of AAP supporters and staged a protest outside, raising slogans against the Central Government. They also alleged that the Minister was being treated like he belonged to the mafia.
“Tomar was arrested as if he was a mafia man. Was he running awayIJ Did he set off a bombIJ What was the emergency, especially when a scam is being reopenedIJ There’s a deep underlying reason behind his arrest. This is an attempt to teach AAP a lesson. We would not spare anyone who will come in the way of our fight against corruption. His college affidavit clearly states that he has passed his law degree,” Sisodia said.
Source said a Delhi Police team led by Additional DCP Pramod Singh Kushwah and two ACPs was sent to take Tomar into custody. He was driven to the AATS office in his official car by a policeman as his driver was asked to leave.
AAP supporters claimed that over 40 policemen were sent to secure the area in and around Tomar’s residence and he was taken into custody the moment he stepped inside his car. The police officers however allowed him to use his cellphone and on the way, he spoke to senior AAP leaders Sanjay Singh and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. He was reportedly told by the police officers that they wanted to verify certain documents hence he was being taken to the Hauz Khas Police Station. However, soon after arriving at Hauz Khas Police Station he was shifted to AATS office after AAP supporters started arriving at the police station.
After being grilled for over four hours by senior police officials, Tomar was produced before the Saket Court in South Delhi where the court remanded him to four days’ police custody.
It may be noted that two cases are pending against Tomar in the Delhi High Court for allegedly enrolling himself as an advocate on the basis of a fake law degree and seeking cancellation of his election. Tomar had to submit his reply to the court on August 28.