Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday released the names of 209 students who were allegedly “promised higher marks” in their CBSE Class XII final examinations by arrested USTM chancellor Mahbubul Hoque.

Hoque was arrested on Saturday from his Ghoramora residence in Guwahati along with five others, including the principal and two teachers of the Patherkandi school in Sribhumi district where the alleged malpractice came to light after the students wrote their physics paper on Friday.

The six accused were remanded in judicial custody by a Sribhumi court late Saturday night after rejecting their bail petitions, and the plea of the police for seven-day custody.

In a post on X, Sarma uploaded the names of the students, and stated, “These are the names of students who were promised higher marks in their CBSE examination by the owner of USTM, Mahbubul Hoque. @assampolice is enquiring into the matter and a case has been registered. This is a serious matter and we seek cooperation from all concerned.”

On Saturday, Sarma had revealed a trend of examination centres being changed to few specific schools/institutes in the state before CBSE, engineering and medical examinations. The Patherkandi school was one such institute.

The Education Research and Development Foundation (ERDF), founded by Hoque, runs both the school and the UGC-affiliated University of Science and Technology Meghalaya (USTM), a private university located in Meghalaya’s Ri Bhoi district on the outskirts of Guwahati.

A police officer told The Telegraph on Sunday that the names of the 209 students released by the chief minister were from lower Assam districts and were registered with the USTM for their Class XII final exams.

Investigations suggested their examination centre was shifted to the Patherkandi school on the “promise of helping” them secure good grades in “exchange” of money, the officer said.

Former Congress MP Abdul Khaleque has condemned the arrest of Hoque while stressing on Sarma’s continuous attack on Hoque. “Chancellor of a reputed Private University of neighbouring state Meghalaya (arrested) at midnight from his Guwahati residence by Assam Police. Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma is criticizing him continuously in public for last few months,” he said on X on Sunday.

The alleged malpractices came to light on Friday during the physics exam where the students were promised help with section dealing with the 30-mark MCQ (multiple choice question).

Police had said on Saturday that 274 had appeared for the physics exams from the Patherkandi school, of which 41 were regular students and 214 from the USTM.