Six more persons, including a primary school teacher, were arrested by the state police from North Dinajpur and Cooch Behar during the past 24 hours in connection with the theft of state grants to higher secondary students of state-run and state-aided schools for buying tabs or cell phones.

The annual grant is given under the Mamata Banerjee government's Taruner Swapna scheme.

On Sunday evening, a joint team of East Midnapore police and the police of the Islampur police district stopped a bus at a checkpoint near the Islampur police station. They nabbed four persons in the bus, all of whom were residents of Chopra block of North Dinajpur district.

The quartet had allegedly transferred the grants meant for students to different bank accounts by hacking into the web portal of the state education department. They were on their way to Kishanganj in the neighbouring state of Bihar to take a train and evade arrests.

Along with them, the police also arrested a muhuri (writer) of the local court of Islampur in connection with the scam from Suajli, an area on the outskirts of Islampur town, sources said.

On Saturday, a team from Habibpur police station arrested Monojit Barman, a 35-year-old teacher of the Singimari State-Aided Primary School in Sitai, Cooch Behar.

Barman, who lives in Dinhata, was picked up by the police and whisked away to Malda. “We have found his involvement in the scam, both in terms of making changes in the web portal (where details of the students' data, including bank accounts, is stored) and the money trail,” said a police officer.

Sources said the police have found that Barman had 15 to 20 bank accounts in his name and he received the grant money meant for students in these accounts.

“All his accounts have been frozen. He was also involved in siphoning funds meant for midday meals of students at his school,” said a police source.

Fresh complaint

Six students of a school in South Dinajpur district have said that they had not received the grant of ₹10,000 and that the money has been transferred to some other bank accounts.

Sources said 102 students of RCA Magurpur Uccha Vidyalaya in Tapan block of South Dinajpur were supposed to receive the state grant this year.

“A student told me that he has not received the grant. Based on his complaint, I asked all 102 students to check if they received the money. It was found that six did not. We have filed a complaint at the cybercrime police station,” said Sanjoy Sen, teacher-in-charge of the school.

The grants meant for these students have been deposited in the bank accounts of some hackers in Chopra, North Dinajpur district, alleged a source of the school.

So far, 11 persons connected to the case have been arrested from North Dinajpur, said a police source.