Four persons were arrested from Siliguri and Alipurduar on Saturday in connection with the Taruner Swapna grant scam by different police teams.

Under the scheme, the state government gives a one-time grant of ₹10,000 to higher secondary students to buy tablets or smartphones for digital learning. Recently, hundreds of students have reported that their grant has been siphoned off.

Sources said a team from the Keshiary police station of West Midnapore district raided Leninpur on the outskirts of Siliguri under Matigara police station limits and arrested Ruksana Khatun and Nazrul Islam on Saturday.

“During the investigation, the police found that on October 4 the money meant to be deposited in bank accounts of some higher secondary students were deposited in the duo's bank accounts and promptly withdrawn. This suggests their involvement in the scam,” said Susanta Neogi, the additional public prosecutor of the additional chief judicial magistrate's court in Siliguri.

On Sunday, the duo was produced in court and sent on transit remand for three days.

“It seems they are among those people who let fraudsters use their bank accounts to transfer money. This is illegal,” said a police officer.

A team from Bidhannagar cybercrime police station caught Mehboob Husain from Naukaghat in Siliguri under New Jalpaiguri police station on Saturday night.

He was produced in a court in Jalpaiguri and sent on transit remand for two days.

“It seems he also helped in routing the grant elsewhere,” said a source.

In Alipurduar, Prabir Das from Birpara on the outskirts of the district headquarters was picked up by a team of the Bidhannagar police commissionerate on Saturday night.

Police sources said Prabir, a pharmacist and a civil contractor, also lent his bank account to racketeers to siphon off the grant.

Additional reporting by our Alipurduar correspondent