USTM Chancellor’s bail: Gauhati HC court seeks case diary for his 2nd case on March 11

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaMarch 5, 2025

The Gauhati High Court has sought the case diary for Case No. 55/2025, involving USTM Chancellor Mahbubul Hoque, who is facing serious allegations in connection with a CBSE exam scam at Central Public School, Patharkandi. The court is set to examine the records on March 11 before ruling on his bail plea.

During a hearing on the matter, Justice Parthivjyoti Saikia, presiding over a single-judge bench, instructed the police to produce the case diary for review.

This development comes after Hoque was granted bail on March 3 in a separate but related case (Case No. 54/2025), also lodged at Patharkandi Police Station.

Hoque’s arrest on February 22 stemmed from complaints filed by 274 students who had appeared for the Class 12 CBSE Physics examination at Central Public School, Patharkandi—an institution run by the ERD Foundation, which is linked to USTM.

Out of these students, only 60 belonged to the school, while 214 had never attended classes there. Instead, they were part of USTM’s “Vision 50 Programme” and had been receiving coaching at the university’s Guwahati campus.

The controversy erupted on the day of the examination when these 214 students, expecting unauthorized assistance during the test, allegedly caused chaos after their demands were not met. Some even claimed they were unaware of their enrollment at Central Public School and believed they were direct students of USTM.

Further allegations indicate that while invigilators and faculty members helped 45 local students engage in malpractice, the remaining 214 were left without assistance. There are also claims that USTM authorities accepted Rs 5 lakh from each of the 45 students in exchange for ensuring they passed the exam.

As the head of USTM, Hoque is accused of orchestrating a large-scale academic fraud, misleading students with false assurances, and facilitating cheating.

Following his arrest, he was presented before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Sribhumi. With the High Court set to review his bail plea on March 11, the case continues to unfold, drawing widespread attention.