Two different police teams arrested three more persons from North Dinajpur district in the past 24 hours in connection with the swindling of grants for students to buy smartphones or tabs.

So far, around 18 persons have been arrested from the district in connection with the scam, mostly from Chopra block.

The scam surfaced as it was found that the grant (₹10,000 per student) that the state had sent to the bank accounts of higher secondary students of the state-run and the state-aided schools had been siphoned off and deposited in some other bank accounts.

In some cases, it was found that the money had been even withdrawn from such bank accounts. The police initiated a probe and found that an organised racket was involved in the scam. The racket hacked into the state education department’s website and changed the bank account details of students to siphon off the money.

“Investigations also revealed that they had wooed some bank account holders, especially those residing in areas, and offered them a commission. Instead, the account holders allowed the hackers to transfer the money to their accounts,” said a source.

On Friday, a team from Hooghly district police reached Chopra, which is suspected to be the hub of the scam.

They arrested Farooque Azam, who is from Sonapur of Chopra. Azam works as a migrant worker in Delhi and has returned home about a month ago.

The other person is Gulzar Ali, a resident of Dhandegah of Daspara in Chopra. He is a farmer.

“Both of them received ₹10,000 in their bank accounts. It was found that the grant was transferred to their accounts. That is why they were arrested,” said a police officer.

Later on Friday, the duo were produced in a court in Islampur. The court heard the case and ordered two days’ transit remand for them.

On Thursday, another team from Ranaghatpolice station in Nadiaarrested Jahangir Alam,who is from Ghirnigaon of Chopra. He, too, had received money in his bank account, sources said.