After North Dinajpur, Siliguri and Malda, this time in West Midnapore’s Ghatal a portion of money with which 22 students were supposed to buy tablets or smartphones under the state government-funded ‘Taruner Swapna’ scheme was fraudulently diverted to bank accounts of others.
The students of Kharar Shree Arabinda Vidyamandir School in Ghatal alleged that the money allotted for them have been diverted to bank accounts of others.
Sensing something amiss, the school authorities have lodged complaints with the office of the district inspector (DI) of schools and cyber police stations in the area.
The authorities suspected that bank accounts of the students had been hacked.
It’s learnt that more than 250 students of Class XI-XII in the school have applied for funds meant to buy tablets or smartphones. The scheme gives Rs 10,000 to each beneficiary in government-aided schools across the state.
Twenty two students among the applicants in the school didn’t get the money so far. Besides these 22 students, 24 more students in the same school have also alleged that they have not yet received the funds meant to buy tablets or smartphones.
“We contacted the concerned bank soon after we came to know about the allegations brought by the students. Their money has been fraudulently diverted to bank accounts of others based mainly in Siliguri and some other north Bengal districts,” a senior teacher of the school said.
There have been regular complaints made by different schools across the state claiming that illegal diversion of funds under the scheme to others’ bank accounts instead of genuine beneficiaries for the past few days.
On Wednesday, two persons were arrested in the Chopra area of North Dinajpur in connection with the alleged defalcation of funds in Sarsuna in Behala.
A portion of the money that students were supposed to get for tablets or smartphones was fraudulently diverted to the bank accounts of the two men, a police officer said.
The accused have been identified as Krishnapada Barman, 38, and Sariful Islam, 45.
Till Wednesday, Kolkata Police had so far received 62 complaints from six government-aided schools that the money earmarked for students have been diverted to others’ bank accounts.
As many as 31 complaints were lodged with Sarsuna police station. Twelve were lodged with Jadavpur police station, 10 with Kasba police station, five with Beniapukur police station, two each with Maniktala and Watgunge police stations.
The police said they would conduct a forensic audit of the money trail and the documents related to the alleged scam.
The two accused had received Rs 10,000 each in their accounts. The accounts have been seized, the police said.
The two arrested were produced in a court in Islampur on Wednesday and will be brought to Calcutta on a transit remand.
Kolkata Police have formed a 10-member special investigation team (SIT) to probe the alleged fund fraud in connection with money for students under the government scheme, sources at Lalbazar said.