Results for the first semester of the 2023-24 academic session at Islamic University’s (IU) Department of Islamic History and Culture have remained unpublished for nearly five months after more than 60 answer scripts for a course went missing.

The delay has left second-year students uncertain about their academic schedule, with their second-semester examinations also postponed.

The missing scripts were for Course 2107, “History of Modern Europe Till 1848 AC”, for which IU Pro-Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Amtaj Hossain was the external examiner.

The first-semester examinations were held from May 2 to May 20. According to the department, the scripts were received by internal examiner Dr Shahabul Alam on May 11. He evaluated them and submitted the marks to the department on May 20.

Later, department staff member Jabed Ali handed over a bundle containing more than 60 scripts to Amtaj Hossain for external evaluation. The scripts have not been traced since, according to university sources.

Marks for the other five courses have been submitted to the examination committee, but the results could not be published because the scripts for Course 2107 remain unaccounted for.

The department had scheduled the second-semester examinations from Sept 16 to Oct 3 but postponed them two days before they were due to begin, citing unavoidable circumstances.

Allegations have also surfaced that there were attempts to prepare the results by assigning arbitrary marks to the missing scripts.

The department formed an investigation committee on Sept 26, with Prof Dr Shariful Islam as its convener. He later declined to take the responsibility citing family reasons, after which Dr Shahabul Alam was appointed convener.

Shahabul Alam said the committee had completed its investigation and submitted its report to the department chairman on Wednesday.

Examination Committee Chairman Prof Dr Talukdar Lokman Hakim said the department had informed the committee that the marks for the course were submitted on time.

Repeated attempts to contact Pro-Vice-Chancellor Amtaj Hossain over the allegations went unanswered. Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr AKM Motinur Rahman also could not be reached.