L Himavant Kumar (54) of Ravindra Nagar in Kadapa, principal of Smt Basava Rama Tarakam Memorial (SBRTM) College, was arrested by the Endowment Document Fraud (EDF) wing of the Central Crime Branch on Wednesday.

The action has been taken based on a complaint by C Raja Kumar, secretary of Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, that one Vipin (59) of Villivakkam registered with the Council after bribing some of the council members, though his petition had been rejected earlier as his documents showed that he pursued the LLB degree from 2015 to 2018 at SBRTM College while he was working as a guard in the Railways.

Vipin and two other advocates, Ulaganathan and Mohan Doss, had already been arrested in connection with the case, which was later transferred to the Crime Branch for investigation.

“Vipin opted for voluntary retirement only in 2017, but the bonafide certificate claims he had 80% attendance. Investigation revealed that college principal Himavant Kumar issued the bonafide certificates to help graduates from his institution to register with the Bar Council even though they did not attend classes,” said Assistant Commissioner (EDF-I) Gowthaman, CCB.