A public university in Dehradun in Uttarakhand has canceled exams for two subjects due to suspected paper leakage, officials said in an order.
An investigation found that the external question paper preparer at Veer Madhu Singh Bhandari Uttarakhand Technical University (VMSB-UTU) Dehradun had shared the questions with students before the exam.
The University has commissioned new examinations for Machine Learning for the Internet of Things (subject code IOTT004) and Electromagnetic Field Theory (subject code ECT043), which were taken as part of the pair-semester examinations for the 2025-26 academic session.
According to the university’s order, the decision came after a complaint regarding an Internet of Things machine learning examination.
The university then constituted a high-level investigation committee on the orders of the vice-chancellor, while Shivalik Engineering College in Dehradun, where the preparer of the external paper in question was working, also conducted an internal investigation.
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The investigation found that the external question paper preparer, Ashish Kumar Gupta, assistant professor at Shivalik College of Engineering, Dehradun, had shared the same questions with students on the institute’s internal portal and WhatsApp before the exam, the order said.
The university described the alleged question exchange as a serious violation of the confidentiality, integrity and academic standards of its examination system.
The investigation also found a strong possibility of similar inconsistencies and breaches of confidentiality in the question paper on electromagnetic field theory, also prepared by Gupta.
“In order to maintain the credibility, purity and interest of students in the examination system first and foremost,” the university said it had canceled both exams with immediate effect.
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The re-examinations for the two subjects are scheduled to be held in the third week of August 2026. The order stated that the detailed list of dates and the list of examination centers will be published separately on the university’s official website.
The university directed its affiliated institutions to immediately inform all concerned students of the cancellation and retake of the exam so that they have sufficient time to prepare. The institutions were also asked to upload the application on their websites for the benefit of the students. The university has also banned Ashish Kumar Gupta, assistant professor at Shivalik College of Engineering, Dehradun, from doing any examination-related work at the university for seven years, with immediate effect.
The university also issued a strong warning to Shivalik Engineering College in Dehradun, for allegedly failing to maintain adequate monitoring and control mechanisms at the institutional level. She directed the institute to ensure that faculty members adhere to the requirements of confidentiality and integrity in the examination system to prevent any repetition.
