NSUI national secretary’s MA degree fake: HoD

National secretary of the Congress-affiliated National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) Akshay Kumar had also submitted fake documents to enrol for a PhD course in the Buddhism department last year.

Amid controversy over the alleged fake degree case of the newly elected Delhi University students’ union (DUSU) president Ankiv Baisoya, varsity officials on Monday said the national secretary of the Congress-affiliated National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) Akshay Kumar had also submitted fake documents to enrol for a PhD course in the Buddhism department last year.

Members of National Students' Union of India (NSUI) stage a protest against EVM machines used during DUSU elections outside Election Commission in New Delhi, India.(HT File Photo)

KT Sarao, head of the university’s Buddhist Studies department, said they had received a complaint against Kumar in January this year. Kumar was elected DUSU joint secretary in 2010. “We got his Master’s certificate verified from a university in Himachal Pradesh. It was found that the certificate, which he used to seek admission in our department, was a fake. We had filed a complaint against him at the Maurice Nagar police station in March. We are still waiting for the police response,” he said.

Sarao said the department will now take Kumar’s case to the departmental research committee (DRC) and recommend the cancellation of his admission. “The DRC will then forward their recommendations to the university’s board of research studies which will further look into the case,” he said.

NSUI national in-charge Ruchi Gupta, however, said the department is raking up the matter to “divert attention” from Baisoya’s case. “If they had registered an FIR against Kumar in March, why was it kept under wraps till now,” she said.