HT Digital
GUWAHATI, Feb 24: The University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya (USTM) Chancellor Mahbubul Hoque has been arrested on the allegation of providing students with unfair means during exams. A court in Sribhumi district of Assam sent him to judicial custody for 14 days, along with five teachers of a school in Patharkandi.
The arrest came after allegations surfaced that students from other districts were sitting for the Class 12 CBSE board exams at the school, being assured that they would be permitted to cheat to secure high marks.
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Hoque, who also owns the ERD Foundation that manages several educational institutions, was arrested from his home in Guwahati early on Saturday and brought to Sribhumi. The court rejected the police plea for seven-day custody and ordered the accused to be held in judicial custody, subject to police interrogation if required.
In response to Hoque’s arrest, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma asserted that there is a “large network” providing students with high marks in an unfair manner. He also accused such cheating of not being restricted to CBSE exams but also to medical entrance exams. Sarma also accused Hoque of being a “big fraud” with a history replete with irregularities.
It is not the first time Hoque has been caught in a scandal.
He had come under criticism last year over allegations of obtaining an OBC certificate fraudulently in Sribhumi district in the 1990s. Sarma had made the announcement in August 2024 that a police case would be filed against him regarding this issue, and the certificate was then revoked. In addition, the Assam chief minister blamed USTM and Hoque for perpetrating “flood jihad” on Guwahati, holding water runoff from the university campus responsible for serious urban flooding.
In spite of the seriousness of the case, the Meghalaya government has kept mum on the issue. No state ministers have made any comments regarding Hoque’s arrest, and Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has also not made any public comments. An official from the Education Department explained that as the arrest took place in Assam and concerns issues within the state, the Meghalaya government has no authority over the case.
Meanwhile, the BJP of Meghalaya has stood by Assam’s chief minister in his vilification of USTM and demanded that the government of Meghalaya clarify the status of whether the university is a private university or a government-run institution.
