Delhi Minister arrested on charges of possessing fake degrees, quits

Delhi Law Minister Jitendra Singh Tomar was in police lock up tonight highlighting the face-off between the Centre and the national capital's AAP government after his arrest by police on the charge of possessing fake degrees forcing him to quit.
49-year-old Tomar, MLA from Trinagar and a first-time minister, was remanded to four-day police custody by a city court hours after he was arrested for allegedly forging his science graduation, law mark sheets and a migration certificate.
Investigators said that an FIR was registered and the Law Minister was arrested after nearly a month-long investigation established that the documents he submitted in 2011 to register with the Bar Council of Delhi were fake.

Late this evening, Tomar quit as minister and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accepted his resignation, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said.
"Jitendra Tomar has sent his resignation to the Chief Minister a while back. And the Chief Minister has accepted the resignation. It will be sent to the Lt Governor tomorrow morning," said Sisodia.
He said that "after today's events, Tomar has sent the resignation on his own."

Tomar said he quit "on grounds of morality. But I will fight this case through and win. After this, I will work for the party."
The arrest came in the midst of a raging battle between the AAP government and Delhi Lt Governor Najeeb Jung over the powers of the city government, giving a new political twist to the unsavoury fight.

Parallely, the AAP government and Jung continued their fight over the appoinment of ACB chief and an official who issued the order appointing Delhi Police Joint Commissioner M K Meena to the probe agency.
Stung by the arrest, AAP unleashed a stinging attack on the Modi government accusing it of political vendetta and creating an "Emergency-like" situation in Delhi to avert the city government's crackdown on corruption.
One of the AAP leaders alleged that the arrest "conspiracy" was hatched in the Union Home Minister's office at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the party would not be cowed down but fight back.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh rubbished the charge saying his ministry did not order the arrest which Police Commissioner B S Bassi said was done within the purview of law and after following due procedures.