Guwahati: Chancellor of the University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya (USTM), Mahbubul Hoque, was arrested by a joint team of Guwahati Police, STF and Sribhumi Police from his residence in Guwahati, Assam at around 1:30 AM.
Following his arrest and a brief “interrogation, he was taken to Patharkandi police station in Sribhumi.
Hoque, per reports, is accused of being involved in a fake certificate issuing case.
Reacting to the arrest, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma termed Hoque a “big fraud.”
Addressing the media, Sarma claimed that Hoque was at the centre of a well-organised racket that manipulated exam centers for medical, engineering and CBSE board students.
“I had been tracking this cycle for a long time. Before exams, students were shifted to specific schools with promises of guaranteed higher marks. Recently, 247 students from Goalpara, Nagaon, and Kamrup were taken to Patharkandi under false assurances of scoring over 30 extra marks in the CBSE exam. When the facility was not provided, the students protested, exposing the scam”, the Chief Minister stated.
He further alleged that the racket was not limited to CBSE exams but also extended to medical entrance tests.
Sarma further said that he would take strict action and added, “Mahbubul Hoque has been misleading intellectuals of Assam. We will ensure that the education department is not turned into a marketplace.”
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