An eight-member team of the Kayamkulam police has found that the degree certificate Nikhil Thomas had submitted was fake.
Nikhil Thomas and K Vidya.
Former leader of the SFI, Nikhil Thomas, accused of submitting a forged certificate to gain admission to a post-graduate programme, is missing, the police probing the case said.
He went incommunicado after the Kalinga University in Chhattisgarh and the University of Kerala called him out for producing a fake certificate to gain admission to the MCom programme of the Kayamkulam-based Milad-E-Sherif Memorial (MSM) College.
The SFI, which initially came out in support of Thomas, took a U-turn within hours after Kerala University Vice-Chancellor Mohanan Kunnummal told reporters that the student-leader had submitted a fake certificate.
News outlets, under attack from the CPI(M) for reporting on SFI leaders, contacted Kalinga University, which also clarified that it had not provided any such certificate to Thomas.
On Tuesday, 20 June, the SFI expelled Thomas from its primary membership. The SFI claimed that Thomas had misled it, which made it initially defend him.
“Thomas did something that no SFI worker should have done,” SFI state secretary PM Arsho said in a statement on Tuesday, deviating from his earlier statement that the certificate submitted was original.
While defending Thomas, Arsho also lashed out at the news media for “singling out” an emerging leader and indulging in “character assassination”. A few hours later, he changed his view.
An eight-member team of the Kayamkulam police has begun a probe into the case and found that the degree certificate submitted by Thomas was fake.
However, the police haven’t been able to arrest the accused, as Thomas could not be found.
“We have ascertained that the degree produced by Nikhil Thomas is fake. We have received Kalinga University’s response to our queries, clarifying that the certificate was fake. We are on a mission to arrest Nikhil Thomas, but he is still absconding,” Kayamkulam sub-division DySP Ajaynath told South First.
“If it is forged, there will be other people involved in the case. Other individuals will be questioned as the investigation progresses. Our eight-member team is investigating the case and probing multiple ways to arrest the accused,” Ajaynath added.
This is the second case of an SFI leader absconding after being accused of forgery of a certificate.
K Vidya, a former SFI leader, who had been “missing” following allegations of forging an experience certificate, was arrested late on Wednesday, 21 June.
Vidya — a former student of Maharajah’s College — allegedly forged an experience certificate, stating that she had been a “guest lecturer” in the Malayalam Department of the college.
The police were under heavy criticism for their failure in arresting Vidya. She was reportedly arrested from a friend’s house at Meppayur in the Kozhikode district late on Wednesday, 15 days after a case was registered against her.
Her arrest came as a relief for the police, who were taking her to the DySP’s office at Agali in Palakkad. She will be presented before a magistrate on Thursday, 22 June.
The Kerala Students’ Union (KSU) noted that Thomas obtained admission to the MCom programme at the same college where he had unsuccessfully pursued BCom.
It called for a statewide strike in all educational institutions on Wednesday to protest against the issues pertaining to the higher education sector.
“This is a broader issue. Merely expelling Nikhil Thomas from the SFI will not solve the issue,” KSU president Aloshious Xavier told South First.
“Initially, the SFI defended its leader. It was only after media reports and the vice-chancellor’s statement came to the fore that Nikhil was expelled,” he said.
Xavier said the issue was not merely about the leader. “It also involves the college management, the Head of the Department, and the university syndicate. They were all involved in getting him admitted. The investigations should look into all these aspects,” he demanded.
Meanwhile, an allegation of using a fake certificate was raised against a KSU leader, Ansil Jaleel.
“When such an allegation was raised against our leader, we sought clarification and found no merit in the controversy,” Xavier said.
“The news was first published by Deshabhimani newspaper. No college in Kerala has the alleged fake certificates or attested copies. Journalists in Deshabhimani owe the state an explanation,” he said.
The Malayalam newspaper Deshabhimani is a mouthpiece of the ruling CPI(M) in Kerala.
Jaleel lodged a police complaint seeking a probe into the allegation against him. The Kerala University, too, has complained to the police.
Arsho was in a meeting when South First contacted him. Calls made to him later went unanswered.
Meanwhile, the Opposition parties — including the Congress and the BJP — continued their attack against the ruling CPI(M) and the SFI over the fake mark list and certificate controversy, and accused them of destroying the higher education sector of Kerala.
“The Left government is humiliating the state in front of the world, and the current situation in Kerala is that anyone can study any course in any college if he or she has forged documents,” the BJP alleged.
Stepping up the attack against the CPI(M) over the raging row, BJP state chief K Surendran said the college and university authorities could not take action in any such cases of complaint due to the undue interference by the ruling party.
Even the college management said that they were forced to give admission to the SFI leaders due to the recommendations of the Marxist party’s leadership, he added.
Surendran was referring to the controversial revelation by the manager of MSM College that Thomas was given admission based on the recommendation of a CPI(M) leader.
Pushing the ruling party to a corner, PA Hilal Babu, the college manager, told reporters on Tuesday that he could not reveal the name of the leader as it would harm his political career.
Pointing out the issues, the BJP chief further said his party would organise statewide protests against such practices.
“The BJP will lead the struggles to protect the higher education sector beyond politics. We will approach the Union Education Ministry with available evidence in this regard,” he said.
The party would continue its fight through the legal channels as well, Surendran added.
Meanwhile, the Congress leadership also made scathing attacks against the Marxist party and the state government over the fake certificate and mark list row.
Leader of Opposition in the Assembly VD Satheesan said more exam-related malpractices happening in colleges and universities in the state would come out in the coming days.
“The ruling CPI(M) is encouraging the SFI leaders who have maligned and destroyed the credibility of the higher education sector,” he alleged.
“However, police registered cases against journalists and innocent KSU activists in a case lodged by such fraudsters, Satheesan said referring to the recent Maharaja’s College mark list controversy, which involved Arsho.
The college later cleared Arsho’s name, saying a technical glitch had led to the confusion.
“The police are with the criminals. Innocent people are being hunted down. This is a disgrace to the state itself,” Satheesan added.
(With PTI inputs. The report has been updated after the arrest of Vidya).
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