Former Students’ Federation of India (SFI) leader Nikhil Thomas was taken into police custody on Friday, June 24, in connection with the allegations of forging a degree certificate. He was booked by the Kayamkulam police recently on charges of forgery and cheating. Nikhil Thomas was accused by another SFI member of securing admission for a Masters course in MSM College, Kayamkulam, with a fabricated undergraduate degree certificate.

The complainant stated that Nikhil finished BCom at MSM College under the University of Kerala between 2018 and 2020, but failed to clear the exams. However, he managed to enrol for MCom at the same college using a fake degree certificate from Kalinga University in Chhattisgarh. The overlapping timeline between the two degrees raised suspicion and was pointed out.

While the SFI initially came in support of Nikhil, it later backtracked after Kalinga University stated that no student by the name of Nikhil Thomas had studied there during the said period. MSM College suspended Nikhil earlier this week, and Kerala University cancelled his MCom course.

In another development, K Vidya, another former SFI activist who was also accused of forging a certificate was arrested by Agali police in Kozhikode on June 22. She was accused of forging an experience certificate while applying for a guest faculty job in a government college. After her arrest, she gave a statement to the police saying that the allegation about the forged certificate was a political ‘trap' laid by the Congress targeting her and the Communist Party of India (Marxist).