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NEW DELHI: The Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) Chairman today claimed there was no "political vendetta" behind the complaint lodged by the organisation against Law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar for allegedly obtaining fake degree and his subsequent arrest.
BCD Chairman K K Manan alleged that Tomar's law degrees were forged and they had given a complaint to Delhi Police on May 11 in this regard and the police after taking cognisance of it, lodged an FIR and arrested the minister this morning.
He also raised questions as to why Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was favouring Tomar, instead of getting verified the Law Minister's claim that his degrees were genuine.
"Instead of shunting out this person, the chief minister and the party are creating 'halla gulla' (ruckus). Why the CM has not got Tomar's claim verified, he has all the infrastructure to get it done," Manan said, adding that "there is no political vendetta in this (behind Tomar's arrest)".
He said Delhi Police has the power to take cognisance on a complaint and lodge an FIR after conducting preliminary enquiry as was done in this case.
The chairman also claimed that the affidavit given by Tomar at the time of his enrolment as a lawyer was also "wrong".
Even the affidavit given by Bishwanath Singh Institute of Legal Study College, Munger in Bihar, before Delhi High Court that Tomar was a bona fide student for three years and had done his law from there, was "wrong and forged", he alleged.
"If his degrees were genuine, why Tomar has not given us the documents? What presumption would be drawn from it?" Manan asked.
Forty-nine-year-old Tomar, MLA from Trinagar and a first time minister, was arrested around 11 AM today 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 cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy. Tomar was brought to Hauz Khas police station and later shifted to Vasant Vihar police station.
BCD had on May 11, sent a written complaint to the DCP (south Delhi), seeking a "detailed investigation" into the allegations that Tomar was holding a forged degree and lodging of a criminal case if needed.
"It is prima facie established that Jitender Singh Tomar, by means of false representation and on the basis of a forged marksheets and degree, claimed to be a graduate in B.Sc and on the basis of a forged provisional LLB certificate claimed to be a law graduate on which basis he obtained enrolment with the BCD in 2011," the complaint to the DCP stated.
Initially, allegations against Tomar were raised in a writ petition filed in Delhi High Court in February this year by advocate Santosh Kumar Sharma, alleging that the AAP leader's undergraduate degree from Awadh University and law degree from Bihar were not genuine. The matter is being heard by the court.
Subsequently, a complaint was filed before BCD seeking cancellation of Tomar's registration as an advocate and initiation of criminal proceedings against him.