In an embarrassment to the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), it has been found that the undergraduate education degree submitted by Ankit Baisoya, who was recently elected as president of the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU), are fake.
On Tuesday, National Students Union of India (NSUI), the students’ group of the Indian National Congress, released the letter received from Thiruvalluvar University, Vellore, stating that the marksheet attached to the degree submitted by him was fake. NSUI also released a picture of the copy of the attached marksheet and the envelope in which the letter from Thiruvalluvar University came.
Referring to the NSUI’s query, the university, in its letter had replied, “With reference to the above, it is informed that the copy of the certificate of following candidate has been verified and found that the said certificate is NOT GENUINE. It is a FAKE CERTIFICATE.” The letter is signed by the Controller of Examinations of the university.
Ankit Baisoya allegedly submitted this undergraduate degree certificate to obtain admission into the Master of Arts programme of the Delhi University majoring in Buddhist Studies.
TNM independently verified the claim of NSUI and spoke to the Controller of Examinations in Thiruvalluvar University, Vellore.
“Nobody named Ankit Baisoya has ever studied in this university. In fact, north Indian students have not come here to study and, hence, I am 100% sure that the certificate that was attached to the verification request letter is fake,” he said.
He further added that as per the university’s policy, anybody who pays the required fee and submits a formal letter for certificate verification of any candidate will be replied to by the institution.
“This is a routine process which is used by many employers across the country. We reply to anybody and everybody if the request is submitted in a formal manner in the organisation’s letter head. We do not differentiate between who the person on the other end is. If we are sure the request is genuine, we reply,” he added.
However, Ankit Baisoya has been denying these allegations in interviews to various media outlets. He has claimed that the NSUI’s allegations over his certificates are out of their failure to create controversy over the electronic voting machines used in the recently concluded students’ union polls.
Monika Chaudhary, the ABVP Spokesperson spoke to TNM and said that the ABVP has also sent a request to the Thiruvalluvar University regarding the marksheet.
“We are also waiting for an official response from the university . After we receive that, we will decide the appropriate course of action,” she said.