The Prayagraj additional chief judicial magistrate’s court on Wednesday directed police to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the alleged fake degrees of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maviya.

The court has directed the local police to submit a report on the matter within a week and posted the matter for further hearing on August 25.

RTI activist and senior BJP leader Diwakar Tripathi has filed a plea in the court alleging that Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM Maurya has contested five separate elections by submitting fake degrees. Apart from this Maurya is alleged to have got a petrol pump from Indian Oil Corporation on the basis of fake degrees.

The police has been asked to look into the authenticity of the Uttar Madhyama second year degree issued by the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan, Prayagraj to the deputy CM. The allegation of use of fake certificates by Maurya in the affidavit submitted for contesting the assembly and Lok Sabha elections will also be looked into.

Besides this, the court has also ordered an inquiry regarding the submission of a fake high school certificate by deputy CM to obtain the petrol pump.

The court has given this order on the basis of the decision of the Supreme Court in the Priyanka Srivastava versus State of UP case. On March 19, 2015, Supreme Court Judge Justice Dipak Mishra gave the verdict in this case.

Diwakar Tripathi in his application to the court sought that the election of Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya and the allotment of the petrol pump on the basis of fake degrees be cancelled.

In the application, it was said that Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya had contested elections twice from the Prayagraj (West) assembly constituency in the year 2007, he also contested assembly elections from Sirathu in 2012 and from Phulpur Lok Sabha constituency in 2014.