Kolkata: Both West Bengal Police and government are separately looking into allegations of diversion of funds from the Taruner Sapna (youth’s dream) scheme after several schools complained that the funds are not reaching student accounts. State officials say it looks like a fraud similar to what put the spotlight on “Jamtara gangs”.
Under the Taruner Sapna scheme, higher secondary students in government-aided schools and madrasas get a one-time benefit of Rs 10,000 to purchase tabs for educational purposes.
Speaking to media persons, West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu linked the case with “Jamtara gangs”.
“The chief secretary has held a high-level meeting, and we are looking into the matter at the administrative level. The police have made a few arrests and are identifying the hackers. It is one kind of a Jamtara gang, and that link cannot yet be ruled out,” Basu said.
Speaking to ThePrint, a state education department official said that while the police are in charge of the criminal case, the government is conducting an internal probe.
“We have directed department officials in all the districts to file a daily report on new complaints. We are strictly dealing with this matter. Such instances have not been reported in such large numbers earlier,” said the senior official on the condition of anonymity. The police, he said, are investigating the complaints with the cybercrime team.
So far, the police have arrested ten persons for allegedly diverting government funds from West Bengal’s Malda and Uttar Dinajpur districts. All those arrested are between 21 and 25 years of age and linked to cyber cafés in their localities.
On Tuesday, Purba Burdwan police picked up Hashem Ali, who owns a cyber café some distance from his residence in Malda’s Baishnabnagar. After interrogating him, the police arrested Rocky Sheikh, Pintu Sheikh, Sraban Sarkar and Jamal Hossain on Wednesday. Of them, Rocky is a former computer teacher.
Kolkata Police, meanwhile, arrested Krishnapada Barman and Sariful Islam from Uttar Dinajpur district’s Chopra and will bring them on transit remand to Kolkata on Thursday. The force has also formed a Special Investigating Team (SIT) to look into at least 10 complaints.
According to the preliminary investigation, the accused secured unauthorised access to the government portal, ‘Banglar Shiksha’, and then, diverted the funds to their bank accounts in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha—now under the scanner. The investigators have frozen at least 180 bank accounts.
The police are awaiting technical, forensic reports to confirm whether the accused used mobile phones for the crime but, so far, have not declared the case as a “hacking” case.
“In July, Hashem Ali entered the ‘Banglar Shiksha’ portal through unauthorised means from his mobile phone and altered the details of the students’ bank accounts. He is currently in police remand for further questioning,” said Superintendent of Police (Purba Burdwan) Sayak Das.
However, as all the transactions were online, only further investigation can reveal at what stage the accused siphoned off the money.
Loopholes in scheme
So far, over 600 students have been impacted, according to reports. They include 149 students from Malda, 88 from Purba Burdwan, 89 from Birbhum, and 244 from Purba Medinipur.
Kolkata Police Detective Department is investigating similar complaints from government schools in the state capital. Till Wednesday, 62 students from six schools had complained about not receiving the funds.
Sources in the education department told ThePrint that funds were immediately disbursed to students deprived by the fraud.
Speaking to ThePrint, the principal of a government-run school in North 24 Parganas district explained the fund transfer to student accounts. “Class 12 students buy tabs and give us the receipt, which is then uploaded with the student bank details on the government portal. The funds reach the students online,” she said on condition of anonymity.
However, the real problem arises in schools without computers. “Many schools in remote villages or tribal areas do not have computer access, so the authorities upload the data at cyber cafes. There is no process to verify the student’s bank details. Also, the portal’s password is the same for authorised persons across the state. So, it is easy to access and, sometimes, the password is also available in YouTube tutorials,” she said.
The school principal claimed the drop-out rate is high in higher secondary classes and that many drop-outs, especially boys, take up part-time jobs in neighbouring states and continue to draw the scheme’s benefits meant for enrolled students.
“Many students do not care much about education and quit school. They begin work in adjoining states to support their families. They know that, unlike welfare schemes that require verification of eligibility criteria, the ones meant for students do not. When they go outside the state, they continue to get the funds transferred to their accounts,” she alleged, explaining the loopholes in the process.
Now, the state government has decided to verify the student’s bank details with the linked Aadhaar card to eliminate the chance of a fraudster securing the funds.
What Oppn says
The official narrative is not sitting well with the Opposition, which pointed fingers at the Mamata Banerjee administration and renewed its charges of a government steeped in corruption.
“Wherever you look, you will see the TMC government looting public money. An independent agency should investigate to find the real head behind this scam,” BJP Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya told ThePrint.
However, the TMC has claimed agencies such as the ED and CBI are now part of the BJP’s organisational circuit.
“A party that uses ED and CBI like their organisations has no credibility to speak about this. The police are probing this case, and those behind this (crime) will be punished,” said Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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