BCD staffer Jagdish Yadav, an advocate himself, was granted bail after the court observed that the only “incriminating evidence” against him was the statement of J.Vasanthan, the Tamil Nadu advocate. given during the inquiry proceedings conducted by the BCD.
“Admittedly, no notice has been given to any of the accused persons to join the investigation. IO (investigation officer) has also mentioned that alleged forged documents are yet to be received from the office of Bar Council of Delhi for their verification,” the order from 27 November noted.
“The FIR has been registered few days back and no effective investigation has happened till date and thus, sometime would be needed to conduct independent investigation with the findings given in the inquiry undertaken by the Bar Council of Delhi.”
According to the prosecution, Yadav, in collusion with another lawyer, allegedly facilitated Vasanthan’s enrolment with the BCD on the basis of a fake LLB degree and forged mark sheets.
The Bar Council’s inquiry found that the Bundelkhand University documents submitted for Vasanthan’s registration were fake. But, Vasanthan is said to have claimed that he never submitted those fake documents himself.
Instead, he handed over his original papers from the Indian Institute of Professional Studies (IIPS), Uttar Pradesh, to Yadav, according to the accused. Vasanthan allegedly paid Rs 95,000 in cash to Yadav and transferred an additional Rs 50,000 to the advocate’s account via bank transfer.
In response to Yadav’s bail application, the Delhi Police had noted that the allegations were “serious in nature and custodial interrogation of the applicant was needed for detailed investigation”, and to ascertain the role of other accused persons.
However, sources in the know of the matter said that the police didn’t inform the complainant, the BCD, about Yadav’s bail application being filed. The police haven’t conducted an active probe and didn’t take enough action to oppose bail, they alleged.
Calls and messages to Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Ankit Chauhan were unanswered. This report will be updated once a response is received.
“The matter is still under investigation. Raids were conducted,” a senior police officer told ThePrint. The officer didn’t respond to the allegation that the complainant wasn’t informed about the bail plea.
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‘Structured conspiracy’
On 18 November, the Bar Council of India (BCI) issued an Order for Removal of Advocate against Vasanthan for allegedly enrolling on the basis of a fake degree. The matter came to light when as per procedure for verification, Vasanthan’s degrees were sent for verification to Bundelkhand University, Jhansi.
Earlier, the university confirmed to the Bar Council on 26 June that the degree was fake. Thereafter, a show-cause notice was served and later the Council noted that Vasanthan failed to submit any explanation.
The BCD issued another communication 16 September noting that since he failed to respond to the show-cause notice dated 8 July, it was satisfied that the law degree and marksheet submitted at the time of enrolment were fake.
The Council informed that his licence to practice as an advocate stood suspended with immediate effect, and that a police complaint was also being lodged.
A show cause notice was sent 1 November to Vasanthan, who claimed that he was from Tamil Nadu’s Villupuram district and that he had come to Delhi for the purpose of enrolment through the chain of ‘gambling groups’ in January 2023.
The committee formed for this inquiry noted that while Vasanthan stated that he completed his BA (History) in Tamil from Annamalai University in 2009 and then got admission to an LL.B. programme at the IIPS, affiliated to the Bhartiya Shiksha Parishad, Uttar Pradesh.
In his words, the accused claimed that he relied upon an advertisement issued by the Parishad portraying the IIPS as an institution recognised by Educational Councils/Boards/Universities.
“We may mention that there is no University recognized by the Bar Council of India by the name of Bhartiya Shiksha Parishad and the LL.B. degree claimed to have been obtained by J Vasanthan from Bhartiya Shiksha Parishad, Uttar Pradesh is, therefore, a sham and questionable document,” the committee said in its report.
It further mentioned that Vasanthan stated that he completed his LL.B. in 2012, but due to his father’s hospitalisation he could not immediately pursue enrolment.
He claimed that when he approached his college for assistance, an official advised him to seek enrolment with the BCD, describing it as a valid authority, and provided him with the mobile number of a lawyer who “facilitated enrolments”.
According to Vasanthan’s statements to the panel, he contacted the lawyer in December 2022 who asked him to travel to Delhi with documents. This led to the meeting with Yadav, a staff member of the Bar Council of Delhi.
Yadav, he submitted, collected his certificates, obtained his signatures on blank registration forms and ten plain sheets, and demanded Rs 1 lakh for the registration. He stated that he paid Rs 95,000 in cash, after which the enrolment was allegedly completed. Another Rs 50,000 was paid after Yadav asked for it for verification of documents.
The panel’s report mentioned that Vasanthan accused Yadav of “arranging everything” for his enrollment and that he never went to Bundelkhand University. The examination of his enrolment application forwarded by the BCD, revealed that it bore his signatures as well as a certificate of good moral character issued by two advocates. A fake rent agreement was also allegedly submitted.
“This committee is constrained to observe that the facts emerging from the present reference disclose the disturbing possibility of a structured and ongoing conspiracy involving intermediaries/touts and a staff member of the Bar Council of Delhi, operating to secure enrolments on the basis of forged law degrees, marksheets and other academic records,” the report said.
“The present case appears not to be an isolated case but it is indicative of a deeper systemic breach in the enrolment process and the possibility of many more enrolments in this fraudulent manner cannot be ruled out.”
Advocate Ajayinder Singh Sangwan, who represented Yadav in the court, came out in defence of his client.
“Jagdish Yadav had been working as a staff member of the Bar Council of Delhi, and he has an unblemished record of 38 years. He has joined the police investigation. The BCI’s report is purely on the basis of J Vasanthan’s disclosure. He is an accused himself in the case,” the advocate told ThePrint.
Sangwan was the BCD co-chairman before it was dissolved October in light of the upcoming elections.
Yadav, he said, has been removed from the BCD pursuant to the ongoing probe.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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