Former Law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar who is in four days police custody in connection to forged degree case is not being treated as an ‘aam <g data-gr-id="48">aadmi</g>.’ He is instead being treated as a ‘khas <g data-gr-id="50">aadmi</g>’ as per protocol.
Since Delhi Police got four days police custody and Tomar was taken to Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh for <g data-gr-id="61">spot-verification</g>, he is being treated well during his travel and interrogation period. “He is former Law Minister and is a serving MLA from Tri Nagar so we cannot treat him like a common man. <g data-gr-id="60">Also</g> he is not a proclaimed offender. Tomar is cooperating with us and that is why we are not being harsh to him,” said a senior police official.
“Indu Gupta, the owner of New Universal Institute has provided the forged degree to Tomar for Rs 2.60 lakh,” a highly placed source said on Thursday.
“We have raided the house of Gupta but to no avail. A man-hunt is on to trace her whereabouts. It has been learnt that Gupta had provided hundreds of forged degree and had earned handsome money. She along with her associates used forged stamp and signature of the institutes,” the source added.
During spot verification, the concerned authorities of Ram Manohar Lohia College under Awadh university and KS Saket college in Faizabad had told police that former Law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar was not a student of their colleges.
According to a senior police official, Tomar along with the principals of these two colleges and other staff members were quizzed face to face in which the college authorities denied to accept Tomar as a pass-out of their college. “Tomar was constantly giving <g data-gr-id="43">blank-expressions</g> as he was unaware about the college’s location and the interior including the classrooms, laboratory,” the official added.
On Thursday morning, a team raided an institute — New Universal Institute in Sector-8 Rohini in connection to the fake degree row. “The team has got specific inputs about the illegal activities carried out from the institute. When the police team conducted a raid, the institute was found locked and the mobile number of the owner is switched off. The institute has been sealed till further investigation,” a source said.
“There is definitely a racket behind this fake degree who has helped Tomar in procuring the B.Sc and Law degree. So far Tomar has not confessed that the degrees are fake and he has obtained them illegally. Once he confesses the crime, we will get clues about the master-mind behind this racket. There is a possibility that Tomar has procured the fake degree from Uttar Pradesh or Bihar as many rackets exist in these two states,” the source added.
“Though Tomar’s fake degree case is an open and shut <g data-gr-id="41">case</g> but we need more time to interrogate him as he will help us to reach the collars of the culprit. For the same we need to extend the police custody,” another official said.