21 arrests till Monday in Bengal tablet scam: Police

Kolkata: The total number of arrests in the cyber-forgery related to the transfer of the West Bengal government's dole amount to higher secondary students in the state for the purchase of tablets reached 21 on Monday, the state police said.

The last three arrests on this count have been made from Siliguri in Darjeeling district. One of the last three arrested is a primary teacher attached to a state-run school in the North Dinajpur district.

The last three arrests, state police sources said, were in connection with the forgery where the victims were some higher secondary students of a state-run school located at Sarsuna in the southern outskirts.

The money transferred from the state government exchequer for the purchase of tabs was transferred to different bank accounts instead of the bank accounts of the genuine beneficiaries.

As per the latest information available, the investigating officials have reached the base of such cyber-forgery which was operating from Chopra in North Dinajpur district. Their style of operations had been somewhat similar to that conducted by the Jamtara gang operating out of the Jharkhand district.

Because of numerous incidents of phishing across the country with Jamtara being the base, the place is often nicknamed as the "phishing capital” of the country.

Last week following the order of Director General of West Bengal Police Rajeev Kumar, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to probe the tab scam.

The joint investigation monitoring team comprised top officials from the state police who are monitoring the progress of the investigation on a daily basis.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had already assured that students who did not receive the money because of the cyber fraud will surely receive it. She also claimed that the process of sending money to their bank accounts had also started.