Police in Ri-Bhoi refused permission for their counterparts in Assam to conduct a raid against the University of Science and Technology Meghalaya (USTM), which is located just on the Meghalaya side of the interstate border.
The Assam police had reportedly planned to search the university in connection with a case filed against the Chancellor of USTM, Mahbabul Haque, who was arrested last week on charges of promising students unfair means in exams at a school run by the ERD Foundation, an organisation he controls.
However, Ri-Bhoi police declined to authorise or assist in the raid.
According to Ri-Bhoi Superintendent of Police, VS Rathore, a team from Assam police arrived today at Khanapara Police Station seeking cooperation for the raid. However, after careful consideration, the Ri-Bhoi police denied their request and refused to extend any support for the operation. Consequently, the Assam police had to return without conducting the raid.
Rathore said that the Ri-Bhoi police had considered several factors, such as potential law and order problems and the visit of the Union Finance Minister to Meghalaya. The Assam police were also told to obtain a search warrant first before any action can be carried out.
Meanwhile, a civil society group comprising eminent Muslims on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expressing deep concern over the arrest of the chancellor and urged him to ensure justice in the matter.
Hoque was arrested from his Guwahati residence in the early hours of Saturday, police said. He was allegedly involved in a network that lured students with assurance of high marks through “fraud means”, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had claimed.
“This arrest of a respected, non-political citizen and his prolonged incarceration has been aimed at demoralising a section of progressive members of society. It prevents efforts by enlightened citizens to strive towards establishing modern secular institutions of higher learning and medical facilities,” the letter signed by former chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi, former Delhi Lt Governor Najeeb Jung, former Aligarh Muslim University vice chancellor Zameer Uddin Shah, former MP Shahid Siddiqui and industrialist Saeed Sherwani said.
“This is pure vendetta and we are confident that you will give directions for redressal,” the civil society group ‘Citizens For Fraternity’ said.
In their letter to Modi, the group said Hoque was arrested in the early hours of Saturday “without an initial charge-sheet or arrest warrant and been lodged in Karimganj Jail, about 300 km from Guwahati”.
“The charge-sheet made available a day after his arrest accuses him of encouraging mass cheating in Class 12 exam. The timing of arrest, on a Saturday morning when judicial redress is difficult, clearly smacks of vendetta by the Government of Assam against USTM and its founder,” the letter said.
