Kottayam: Police have arrested Nikhil Thomas, who is accused of producing a fake degree certificate to get MCom admission at Milad-E-Sherif Memorial (MSM) College in Kayamkulam, in the wee hours of Saturday.

He was nabbed while he was travelling from Kattappana to Kottayam in a KSRTC bus. The person was taken into custody by 12:30 am. Police quizzed him at Kayamkulam police station. 

It is learnt that the quizzing will be completed by 1 pm and police will produce him before the court by evening, seeking his custody.


CPM and SFI had been facing flaking over the matter. The rivals accused the CPM-led regime of trying to save Thomas by delaying his arrest. The development comes at this juncture. 

The person had been on the run for five days. He was nabbed based on the mobile network activity. According to reports, he had been staying at a hideout in Kozhikode to escape police. The person reportedly was in a Kozhikode-Thiruvananthapuram bus. 

CPM on Thursday had ousted Thomas. Earlier, CPM’s student organisation SFI too had ousted him. Notably, SFI condemned Thomas’ pursuit and elaborated on the reason why it initially stood by him. The organisation’s course correction came as reports suggested Thomas' intimation to SFI was false.

Earlier, MSM College had suspended Thomas for possessing a fraudulent graduation certificate. For PG admission at the college, Thomas submitted a degree certificate from Kalinga University in Chhattisgarh, which reportedly was fake. 

Police are suspecting the involvement of more individuals in the case as well.