NEW DELHI: A day after the arrest and the ensuing resignation of former Delhi Law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar over the fake law degree controversy, the AAP Government on Wednesday named Delhi Jal Board(DJB) vice-chairman Kapil Mishra as the new Law Minister.
Following a meeting with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Mishra announced that he has been asked to take charge as Law Minister and added that he may probably be sworn in on Thursday at Raj Nivas. He also expressed happiness at being given the Cabinet berth.
Mishra, an AAP MLA from Delhi’s Karawal Nagar constituency, is known as a Kejriwal loyalist and had been associated with him since the days of India Against Corruption movement. He has worked for NGOs like Greenpeace and Amnesty International.
Meanwhile, investigators have found that Tomar had bought degrees of BSc and LLB from a tout with links to a racket suspected to be operating in UP and Bihar.
49-year-old Tomar, however, is still to confess to the crime and on Wednesday produced some more documents before the police.
Tomar was then taken to Faizabad from where he had procured degree of Bachelor of Science. He is under police custody for three more days and will be taken to Bihar from where he procured LLB degree.
Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi said, “Our team has reached Faizabad, where our investigating officer will take the help of Tomar in gathering evidence and whatever on-spot verification will be needed will be done.”
A five-member team led by Assistant Commissioner of Police S P Tyagi and Inspector Satinder Sangwan also met RML Avadh University staff. “We need to know whether he made them himself or he procured it from somewhere. If they were procured from somewhere, we need to zero down on the person who provided them and know who else were provided with such documents,” Bassi said.
The ACP said that such malpractices damaged the educational system and police would get to the bottom of the issue.
Be proactive BJP; quit Kejriwal: Cong
The Congress has demanded that Centre should also be pro-active in cases involving Union Ministers. “The way they have proceeded against Tomar, they should do likewise against the senior BJP leaders”, party spokesman Ajay Maken said. Maken demanded that CM Arvind Kejriwal should quit, alleging that Kejriwal was doing little to promote transparency and accountability in the government.
Who’s mishra?
■ AAP MLA from Karawal Nagar constituency
■ Current vice-chairman of Delhi Jal Board
■ Kejriwal-loyalist; association with him since India Against Corruption days
■ Worked for NGOs like Greenpeace and Amnesty International