GUWAHATI: USTM Chancellor Mahbubul Hoque finally walked free after over a month of incarceration late on Monday, March 24 after Gauhati High Court granted him bail in the sixth case registered against him for alleged unfair exam practices. He had been in Tezpur prison in connection with the sixth case after having been in Sribhumi jail earlier in connection with two other cases.
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Hoque was earlier granted bail in two cases in Sribhumi while proceedings in three other cases were stayed.
Hoque was initially arrested on February 22 following allegations from 274 students who took the Class 12 CBSE Physics exam at Central Public School in Patharkandi, Sribhumi district. The school is managed by the ERD Foundation, chaired by Hoque. On March 3, the Gauhati High Court granted him bail in the first case filed by the Patharkandi police.
The controversy revolves around USTM's "Vision 50 Programme," under which 214 students—mostly from outside the region—were allegedly enrolled at Central Public School without attending any classes there. Instead, these students had been receiving coaching at USTM’s Guwahati campus. Allegations surfaced that while students were promised support during the exam, they were left without assistance on the day of the test, leading to chaos.
