A teacher at a primary school in Chopra, North Dinajpur, was among the three men arrested by Kolkata Police on Sunday for their alleged role in the defalcation of funds meant for plus-II students at government and government-aided schools to buy tablets or smartphones.

Dibakar Das, 28, a resident of Daspara village in Chopra, was arrested outside a shopping mall in Siliguri along with two others, Gopal Roy, 28, and Bishal Dhali, 23.

The police said they found “specific leads” about the trio’s involvement in the “tab scam”.

Das is a teacher at Maricha Golgachh Free Primary School in Chopra, the police said.

His arrest came within days of the police rounding up Manojit Burman, a teacher at a primary school in Malda’s Sitai, in connection with the scam.

Roy and Dhali are residents of Champasari village in Darjeeling’s Matigara, the police said.

Sources said the officers investigating the defalcation of funds came to
know about the trio’s alleged involvement when a team from Kolkata Police went
looking for some of the accused in Bihar’s Kishanganj on Saturday.

“The investigation is at an early stage and we are working on different inputs reaching us. Primarily it appears Dibakar Roy was one of the key figures in the case,” a senior officer at Lalbazar said.

“Roy is a permanent teacher at a primary school in Chopra.”

The state education department, under the Taruner Swapna scheme, gives
₹10,000 to each plus-II student in government and government-aided schools to buy tabs or smartphones for digital learning.

However, this year, hundreds of students across the state have complained that they have not received the money, with the police saying the funds meant for the students have landed in the bank accounts of unauthorised persons.

Till Thursday, Kolkata Police had registered 107 complaints from students.

Roy and the other two arrested on Sunday were allegedly involved in a fraudulent transfer of funds meant for students of a school in
Sarsuna, on the southern fringes of the city. The students had lodged a complaint on November 7.

The city police had earlier arrested two persons in Chopra in connection with the case registered at Sarsuna police station.

The widespread allegations about the defalcation
of funds released under Taruner Swapna, which was launched during the Covid pandemic in 2022, have prompted the government to set up a special investigation team.

As many as 93 FIRs have been registered across the state and more than 20 were arrested till Monday, state police sources said.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has said students who fell victim to what appears to be an interstate cyber fraud, spread across Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and other states, will be sent money afresh.