Police arrested the headmistress of a high school in Swarupnagar, North 24-Parganas, on Wednesday for allegedly selling cycles meant for free distribution among students under the state government’s flagship Sabuj Sathi scheme.

Police and local sources claimed Rinku Das, the headmistress of Charghat Girls’ High School, was arrested after a businessman, Noor Islam Mondal, apprehended by villagers when he was seen taking away a few cycles on a tricycle van earlier in the day, said Das sold them to him.

“When we confronted Das, she fumbled for a reply. We informed the police about the incident. We also handed over Mondal to the police,” said a local resident in Charghat.

The police also arrested businessman Mondal, who claimed to have bought the cycles from the headmistress for Rs 370 each. The police recovered eight cycles from him.

During interrogation, Noor again said he bought the cycles from the headmistress. “He also told us it was not the first time, she had sold the Sabuj Sathi cycles earlier also. When we interrogated Das, she was inconsistent in her replies and we arrested her for a detailed probe,” an investigating officer of the Swarupnagar police station said.

Das claimed she had been falsely implicated. “Since the students of Classes V to VII are attending Paray Shikshalaya and not attending school regularly, I arranged to deliver the cycles to their homes. Guardians of some students came to the school for the cycles, but a few did not turn up to take the cycles home,” Das said.

Both the accused were produced before the additional chief judicial magistrate’s court in Basirhat, which ordered 10 days of judicial custody for each.
A senior police official of Basirhat police district said that the statements of both the accused were being examined closely.