M A I N   N E W S

Forged Certificate Case
HP ex-minister Singhi Ram arrested
Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 31
The police today arrested former Congress minister Singhi Ram and former chairman of the Himachal Board of School Education B.R. Rahi after the court turned down their plea for extending interim bail.

All three had been granted bail till March 31 after the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau suspected their alleged involvement in the forged certificate case. The police arrested the two immediately after the court rejected their bail applications as the Vigilance Bureau sought their custodial interrogation.

They will be produced before the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) tomorrow. “I am of the opinion that as Upma’s custody is not necessary for her interrogation, she has not been arrested,” said Vigilance SP Anand Pratap Singh. Surinder Malhotra, a deputy secretary in the school board, is already in Vigilance custody for his alleged role in the case.

Upma, who had failed in her CBSE plus two examinations while studying at Lawrence School, Sanawar, in 2005 managed to seek admission to Lady Sri Ram College, Delhi, on the basis of a certificate with 90 per cent marks issued by the board.

Interestingly, while the CBSE Himachal plus two topper that year had secured 83 per cent marks, Upma was issued a certificate with 90 per cent marks.

During interrogation, Singhi Ram told the police that he had handed over the certificate in question to Rahi and even after repeated requests the latter did not return it. The police also interrogated Rahi who till now has completely denied his involvement at any level.

Upma later withdrew from LSR College with all her original documents and took admission to Jesus and Mary Convent in first year in 2007 on the basis of a plus two certificate issued by National Open School of Learning.

Singhi Ram, who was interrogated by Vigilance sleuths till late in the evening, was kept in the lock-up at Chotta Shimla police station. With no separate class in the lockup like jail, he spent the night with others.

The downfall of Singhi Ram

Former Congress minister Singhi Ram will spend the night like any other accused in the lock-up of Chotta Shimla police station, right outside the state secretariat where he occupied office as a senior Cabinet minister in the Virbhadra government.

He will be kept in the lockup of the police station along with former chairman of the Board of School Education B.R. Rahi who, the police suspects, had a role in the forged certificate case. The police is keen to keep the two apart so that they are not able to talk to each other.

There has been a sudden turn of events for the worse in the life of the former minister during the past six months. First of all, he was denied the ticket from Rampur he represented six times after his relations with former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh turned sour.

Singhi Ram’s name had figured prominently in the chargesheet submitted by the BJP to the Governor while the Congress was in power. There had been a lot of speculation about his being dropped but he managed to survive with the blessings of the Chief Minister. — TNS