Fake degree certificate case: Kerala Police nabs third accused from Kochi

The Kerala Police has apprehended one more individual in connection with a fake degree certificate case related to Students' Federation of India (SFI) leader Nikhil Thomas. Police arrested Saju Sasidharan from Palarivattom in Kochi on June 29. 

Nikhil Thomas was arrested from the Kottayam KSRTC bus stand earlier this week for allegedly forging a fake degree certificate. The police acted on a complaint lodged at Kayamkulam police station against Thomas for cheating and forgery. Ever since his arrest, Saju was absconding.

Saju's arrest came after SFI leader Abin C Raj, the second accused in the fake degree certificate case, made a statement to the cops that the fake certificate was created by Saju at his shop. An initial probe also revealed that Saju used to forge a certificate of admission to the university, the marks list, the migration certificate as well as the Transfer Certificate. 

Police had earlier found that Abin took Rs 2 lakh from Thomas to provide him with several forged documents. He misused his mother’s bank account to receive the alleged fraud money. 

Congress slams Kerala government 

After the case came to the fore, Kerala Congress chief K Sudhakaran alleged that the two accused SFI leaders have prepared similar forged documents for many high-ranking officials in the state. While slamming the government, he further stated that the investigation in this direction had stopped due to the intervention of the home department, that comes under CM Pinarayi Vijayan.

“If the investigation continues, the masks of many top brass in the CPI(M) will be unmasked,” said Sudhakaran. He pointed out that the phone details of Thomas, the first accused in the case, were deliberately hidden by the police. 

'A treasure trove of secrets'

Sudhakaran claimed that details inside Thomas' phone are a 'treasure trove of secrets.' He added that police officials are not probing into the matter as they are scared of multiple big names from the government that may come out. 

While the scandal took centre stage last week, the state education department witnessed another massive mishap. As many as 154 certificates of students went missing from Mahatma Gandhi University. 

The vice-chancellor of the university, Dr CT Arvind Kumar, claimed that 154 certificates of students pursuing UG and PG have gone missing from ‘Pareeksha Bhavan’, the examination wing of the university. A separate probe is ongoing in this matter