Pankaj Tiwari, one of the rising stars of the UP Youth Congress, who was selected in a talent hunt and handpicked by Rahul Gandhi to run the organisation in the central zone, had submitted a fake marksheet to show that he is below 35 — the age bar for membership of the Youth Congress. Following a probe, Tiwari was stripped of the organisational post and expelled from the party membership on Thursday.

Virender Singh Rathore, general secretary of the Indian Youth Congress and in charge of UP, said, “Our investigation confirmed that the document submitted by him for age proof was fake. The report was submitted on Thursday and we expelled him with immediate effect.” Party sources said there was a similar complaint regarding another zonal president, but Rathore denied it.

Tiwari, who had earlier in the day claimed that he is “32-year-old and a conspiracy has been hatched by my rivals”, could not be reached later in the evening for comments on the party’s action against him.

Sources said as a proof of his age, Tiwari had submitted his marksheet from Kumahravan Inter College on the outskirts of Lucknow. Two days ago, a team was sent from Delhi to inquire into the matter. The team found that Tiwari had used the marksheet of a girl from Gonda.