AN Old Monmothian county cricket club chairman and former school director has been disbarred from practising as a barrister and ordered to pay £54,000 costs – after a tribunal ruled he had lied on a CV about studying at Oxford University.

Former Monmouth School head boy Anurag Mohindru resigned as a Haberdashers’ Monmouth School director on August 31, days before the Barristers' Tribunal Service ruled that the now suspended King's Counsel had made a fraudulent academic claim 12 years ago.

The 50-year-old, who successfully defended England cricket star Ben Stokes on assault charges, has also since stepped down in the wake of the professional misconduct ruling as Essex County Cricket Club chairman and as a club director.

A further charge of falsely claiming to have qualified as a medical doctor was found not proven after the five-day hearing, which heard further allegations that he falsely claimed to have played for the MCC and had won an Oxford Blue.

The Bar Standards Board (BSB) charged that he had "deliberately exaggerated his academic achievements and qualifications in an attempt to improve his tenancy prospects".

Mr Mohindru, who played cricket for Monmouth School and Usk CC in his youth and later served as Old Monmothian Club president, denied "knowingly" providing false information in an application to a senior chambers in London, claiming he was "certain" he didn't send the CV and someone must have tampered with it.

The independent tribunal was told that the application dated back to 2012-13 when Mr Mohindru allegedly claimed in an interview to have studied biomedical science at Oxford University, before submitting a CV stating he studied there from 1993-1994.

He subsequently withdrew his application after fellow lawyers challenged him, although disciplinary action has only taken place now, two years after he was appointed Essex CCC chairman.

Tribunal chair Nicholas Ainley said Mr Mohindru had told the "reckless, foolish and completely unnecessary lie" about Oxford in the interview and "doubled down" on his CV, reported The Law Society Gazette.

Awarded his barrister’s diploma at the University of West of England in 2004 and made a Queen’s Counsel in 2020, the lawyer had enjoyed a "brilliantly successful" career, and it was "with genuine regret we find the first charge proved".

Members of the interview panel gave evidence that Mr Mohindru said he had attended Oxford and won a cricket 'Blue'.

And the tribunal ruled that it was "plain beyond doubt that the CV can only be the one Mr Modhindru sent in 2013", corroborating their evidence.

Mark Harries KC, for Mohindru, said he had made a "gross error of judgment" that was "unsophisticated, utterly foolish and unnecessary", and which had "come back to haunt him".

He provided testimonials from barristers and a judge who said he was suitable to be a recorder, and noted a "considerable impact on his mental health" and "devastating financial impact", having been forced to sell his house and move into school accommodation where his wife teaches, with a "looming tax bill he cannot pay".

But suspending him pending any appeal, the tribunal chair said: "We find it impossible to come to the conclusion, however much we may wish to, that this amounts to exceptional circumstances.”

Essex CCC announced that Mr Mohindru had resigned last week and posted: "Essex CCC would like to place on record its thanks to Anu for his leadership and significant contribution."