University owner who faced 'flood jihad' charges from Assam CM arrested

Guwahati: Assam Police on Saturday arrested Mahbubul Hoque, the owner of the University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya (USTM), officials said.

Police said Haque was arrested from his residence in Guwahati in connection with a 'law and order situation' situation during a Class XII examination at the Central Public School in South Assam's Sribhumi (earlier Karimganj) district on Friday.

The school is run by the Education Research and Development (ERD) Foundation, which was founded by Hoque. ERD also runs the USTM.

Fake degree and flood jihad charge 

The arrest came days after Assam Chief Minister Sarma accused USTM of issuing 'fake degrees and certificates'. He also accused the USTM of 'fraudulent' activities.

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

Hoque had then rejected the allegations. However, the USTM did not issue any statement regarding his arrest on Saturday.

Police sources in Sribhumi said Hoque was arrested 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 on Friday, out of which 214 had undergone 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. This led a group of students to resort to violence at the examination centre in Patharkhandi.