Kochi: The owner of an educational consultancy has been arrested for providing a fake degree certificate to former SFI leader Nikhil Thomas.

Saju Sasidaran, the owner of Orion, has been named the third accused in the sensational case which embarrassed the students organisation and its parent outfit, the CPM. 

Along with the forged degree certificate, Nikhil had also bought counterfeit mark lists, migration certificate and transfer certificate. These were submitted to the MSM College, Kayamkulam, for obtaining post-graduate admission. 

Abin C Raj, the second accused in the case, was paid Rs 2 lakh by Nikhil in order to procure the forged documents. The former took Orion's services for the deal. 

Abin had revealed that he had contacted the Orion via an agent he had met at the entrance of a college in Thiruvananthapuram. 

Police hope to expose more similar forgery by interrogating Saju. There are 15 cases pending in Kochi against Saju.

The Ernakulam North police had earlier arrested him in a major overseas job fraud. He allegedly swindled Rs 1 lakh each from 40 people after promising jobs in Malta. 

In Kochi city, Orion has offices at Palarivattom, Kaloor, and Thrikkakara. The probe team has seized digital records, including computers and hard disks, from Orion office in Kaloor. 

The digital records have to be examined to confirm whether the fake certificate was fabricated at the Orion office itself. This can be confirmed only after checking the records seized by the Kochi city police and submitted in court.