Two men have been arrested in North Dinajpur’s Chopra in connection with the alleged defalcation of funds meant to buy tabs or smartphones for students in Classes XI and XII at a government-aided school 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, police said.

The accused have been identified as Krishnapada Barman, 38, and Sariful Islam, 45.

Till Wednesday, Kolkata Police had received 62 complaints from six government-aided schools that the money earmarked for students of Classes XI and XII to buy smartphones and tablets under the Taruner Swapna scheme had not reached the beneficiaries’ 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.

“Our preliminary investigation suggests that the duo used to get Rs 300 each time they allowed the racket access to their bank accounts to deposit the siphoned amount. A more detailed investigation is needed to identify the person running the racket,” said a senior officer at the Kolkata Police headquarters in Lalbazar.

The police said they would conduct a forensic audit of the money trail and the documents related to the alleged scam.

The accused duo — arrested based on the 31 complaints at Sarsuna police station — had received Rs 10,000 each in their accounts. The accounts have been seized, the police said.

Hundreds of such mule accounts would have been used to carry out the fraud, a police investigator said.

“Many people are involved in the chain. We are in the process of locating them,” the officer said.

The investigators said they were yet to find out how the gang diverted the money meant for the students.

“Whether the data was tampered with at the school level or some other level is being probed,” said a senior officer.

The two arrested were produced in a court in Islampur on Wednesday and will be brought to Calcutta on transit remand.

The students eligible for the grant had submitted their bank details with their schools. The schools then prepared a database and sent it to the government.

The police suspect that the bank account details of the students were replaced with that of the swindlers’, an officer said.

Consequently, when the money was transferred, it reached the swindlers’
accounts instead of the students’.