Police on Tuesday arrested four persons from North Dinajpur and Malda on charges of stealing funds meant for tablets and smartphones for students by manipulating their bank accounts through unauthorised access to the government portal.

East Midnapore police arrested three youths from different places in North Dinajpur. East Burdwan police arrested the fourth from Malda.

“Now we have to investigate if the four are part of an organised racket,” a senior police officer said.

Recently, a barrage of complaints reached the school education department that hundreds of students in government-aided schools had not received ₹10,000 under the Taruner Swapna scheme to buy tablets and smartphones for digital learning.

Complainants alleged that their money had been transferred to unknown accounts.

The state government directed the police for a probe.

During the investigation of a complaint that around 60 students from four high schools had not received money, the East Midnapore police found the involvement of Siddique Hossain, Mobarak Hossain and Asirul Haque from North Dinajpur.

East Burdwan district police arrested Hasem Ali from Malda's Baishnabnagar in connection with a similar complaint lodged in Burdwan.

A source said the four youths were tech-savvy.

"They gained unauthorised entry to the portal (with details of students). We need to ascertain if anyone from within the system (education department) is linked,” a cop said.