Case registered against Tripura CPI(M) MLA Keshab Debbarma for false affidavit

AGARTALA: A case has been registered against Keshab Debbarma, an MLA of the ruling CPI(M) from Golaghati constituency in Tripura, for allegedly submitting false affidavits regarding his educational qualification.

One Mithu Pal filed a case against Debbarma in the court of the Sub-divisional Judiacial Magistrate (SDJM), Bishalgarh in West Tripura district on July 4 last alleging that the MLA had furnished divergent information regarding his educational qualification in the affidavits ahead of the state Assembly polls in 2008 and 2013.

The case was registered after hearing yesterday. On June 24, Leader of the Opposition, Sudip Roy Burman, had demanded the MLA's dismissal on the charge of forgery.

Burman, a Congress MLA, today said the two affidavits which the CPI-M MLA had submitted before the state assembly elections in 2008 and 2013 are "confusing".

The Leader of Opposition told reporters that in an affidavit on January 31, 2008 Debbarma had mentioned that he had appeared in the Madhyamik (secondary) examination in 1992 and in the affidavit before 2013 elections, he mentioned that he had passed the Madhyamik examination conducted by Tripura Board of Secondary Education (TBSE) in 1989.

"It is clear that he furnished untrue information", Burman charged.

Burman said he had sent a letter to the Election Commission enclosing all relevant copies on May 20 last for taking appropriate action against Debbarma.

The MLA, however, told reporters that his qualification mentioned as 'Madhyamik pass' in the affidavit was a mistake and when the matter came to his notice, he had made another affidavit on June 30, 2014 correcting it and had sent it to the EC.