Three persons, including a woman, were arrested by Siliguri Metropolitan Police from a Duare Sarkar camp on Saturday for allegedly taking money from potential government welfare beneficiaries in exchange of filling up their application forms.

The camp is underway at the Jyostnamoyee Girls High School in Babupara of Siliguri.

Police are keeping a close watch on all Duare Sarkar camps across the city where in each hundreds of women are turning up to register for the Lakshmir Bhandar monthly cash benefit scheme.

The arrested trio are Atindra Majumdar of Shantinagar and Nabab Roy Chowdhury and his wife Aparna from Hakimpara.

“On Saturday, police found these three filling up application forms of prospective beneficiaries against cash. The matter was immediately brought to our notice and they were arrested without delay,” said a police officer.

This is the third arrest from a Duare Sarkar camp in and around Siliguri. Recently, Gautam Deb, the chairperson of the board of administrators of the local civic body, nabbed a youth for a similar crime from another school. In another camp held at a school in neighbouring Rajganj block of Jalpaiguri, a woman was arrested for taking money by filling application forms.

Sources in Siliguri Municipal Corporation said there is a strict order from the district administration to the officials of all the borough (cluster of wards) offices – the camps are being held borough-wise – that there should be a steady vigil in all the camps across the civic area to prevent any malpractice.

An officer of Siliguri Metropolitan Police said after the arrests, a case has been registered on the basis of a complaint filed by an official of the concerned borough office.

“Charges under sections 420 (cheating), 465 and 468 (forgery), 471 (use a forged document as a genuine one) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC have been brought against them,” the officer said.