Kayamkulam, Kerala: Nikhil Thomas, a former SFI leader who is accused of using a fraudulent diploma to enrol in college, was given seven days of police custody by a local court here on Saturday. The arrest of Thomas, who was brought into custody from a bus in Kerala's Kottayam district today morning, was recorded by police earlier in the day. Police custody was permitted until June 30 by the court.
According to police, custody was granted after they requested more time to gather evidence for their investigation.
Thomas was taken into custody from Kottayam while travelling in a KSRTC bus bound for Kottarakkara in Kollam district. He was taken to Kayamkulam police station in Alappuzha district for interrogation.
Thomas had been a former leader of the Left outfit in the Kayamkulam-based MSM College.
Under attack from various quarters over the fake certificate charges, the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) on Tuesday expelled him from the primary membership of the outfit. The SFI is the student’s wing of the ruling CPI(M).
Thomas had done something which should never be done by an SFI worker, the organisation had said in a statement.
The Kerala Students’ Union (KSU), the student’s wing of the Congress in the state, has been alleging that Thomas had obtained an MCom seat in the same college after submitting a “fake degree certificate”.
The KSU has been claiming that Thomas failed in his BCom degree course at MSM College but during MCom admission, he provided a certificate from Kalinga University in Chhattisgarh.