A court in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj town has ordered a probe into the charges that some of the educational degrees of the state deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya were 'fake'.
Additional chief judicial magistrate Namrata Singh directed the police to launch a preliminary probe into the charges and submit a report to the court within a week. She posted the matter for further hearing on August 25.
The court's directive came on an application of BJP leader and RTI activist Diwakar Nath Tripathi on Wednesday.
Tripathi has alleged that some of the degrees of Maurya were 'fake' as they were obtained from the institution which was not recognised by the government.
He claimed that Maurya had submitted degrees like 'Pratahama, Madhyama' from Hindi Sahitya Sammelan, Prayagraj while contesting elections on several occasions and also for obtaining license for a petrol pump.
He also alleged that he had approached the local police for launching a probe into Maurya's degrees but they refused to do so forcing him to file an application in the court. The court had earlier reserved its judgement on the matter.
The court's directive comes at a time when the next assembly polls in UP are barely seven months away.
Maurya, who was considered to be an influential OBC leader of the saffron party, was the top contender in the race for the post of chief minister after the BJP was swept to power in the state in 2017. The BJP high command, however, chose Yogi Adityanath for the top post.
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