Pvt varsity chancellor arrested, Himanta claims he promised students high score through 'fraud'

'Over 200 students under the CBSE curriculum from Goalpara, Nagaon and Kamrup districts were taken to a centre in Pathakarndi in Sribhumi, hundreds of kilometres from their home, this time also. When the students did not get any opportunity to score easy marks, they created a ruckus and the issue came to the fore,' the CM said.

Guwahati: Mahbubul Haque, the vice-chancellor of University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya (USTM) who has been a target of Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma since August last year, was arrested by Assam police on Saturday.

Police said Haque was arrested from his residence in Guwahati in connection with a "law and order situation" during a CBSE class XII examination on Friday in South Assam's Sribhumi (earlier Karimganj) district. The tension took place in the Central Public School run by Education Research and Development (ERD) Foundation, founded by Haque. ERD also runs USTM.

'Fake degree' and 'flood jihad' charge:

The arrest came days after CM Sarma accused USTM of issuing "fake degrees and certificates." He also accused the USTM of becoming "fraudulant."

The CM first openly targetted the education entrepreneur in August last year when he accused the USTM of carrying out "flood jihad" by alleging that construction of the private university by cutting hills in Meghalaya aggravated flash flood problem in Guwahati. The University is situated in Ri-Bhoi district of Meghalaya, which shares the boundary with Assam capital Guwahati.

Haque had then rejected the allegations. But the USTM did not issue any statement regarding Haque's arrest on Saturday.

Police sources in Sribhumi said Haque was arrested on Saturday as the "law and order situation" arose due to "unfair means" adopted by ERD-run school Central Public School.

Police said 274 students sat for the physics examination of class XII on Friday, of which 214 had received a special coaching programme run by USTM. The students claimed that the USTM had promised them "help" to pass the examination but did not fulfill the promise on Friday. This led a group of students resort to violence and law and order situation in the examination centre at Patharkhandi.

Sources said Haque has become a target of CM Sarma for being "pro-Congress."