Abin C. Raj, who allegedly arranged a fake degree certificate for Students’ Federation of India (SFI) former leader Nikhil Thomas, was arrested by the Kayamkulam police on Tuesday after he arrived at Cochin International Airport at Nedumbassery from the Maldives the night before.
Investigators took Nikhil and Abin to a now-defunct agency in Kochi, which provided the phoney certificate, as part of evidence collection.
The police last week arrested Nikhil on charges of forgery and cheating after he gained admission to MCom (2021-23 batch) at Milad E-Sherif Memorial (MSM) College, Kayamkulam, using a forged BCom certificate. Nikhil told the investigators that he arranged the certificate from an agency in Kochi with the help of SFI former Kayamkulam area president and Alappuzha district secretariat member Abin to whom he paid ₹2 lakh in 2020. The police made Abin, hailing from Kandalloor, a co-accused in the case. He will be produced before a local court on Wednesday.
Nikhil studied BCom at MSM College during 2017-20. However, he did not clear the exam. Later, he joined the MCom course at the same college in January 2022 with a 2017-20 BCom certificate purportedly issued by Kalinga University, Raipur.
The police recovered the fake certificate from Nikhil’s house at Kayamkulam earlier this week.
