Bengal school teacher arrested in diversion of govt grant for students case

The senior teacher had been missing since November last year after his name surfaced during interrogation of some suspects

KOLKATA: A high school teacher was arrested on Wednesday from West Bengal’s North Dinajpur district in connection with diversion of the state’s one-time grant of ₹10,000 for class 11 and 12 students for buying tablets or smartphones, police said.

The West Bengal Taruner Swapna Scheme was launched by chief minister Mamata Banerjee in 2022 (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

“Muftazul Islam, a senior teacher at Majhiali High School, was absconding since November last year when around 20 people were arrested across several districts, including Kolkata. His name surfaced during interrogation of some of the suspects. He was arrested by the Islampur police,” a state police official said, requesting anonymity.

The back-to-back arrest of two school teachers on November 17 and 18 last year raised suspicion that insiders were involved, police officials monitoring the probe said. Till then, police from around a dozen districts and Kolkata had arrested 15 people but none appeared to have any connection with the education department.

In 2022, chief minister Mamata Banerjee launched the West Bengal Taruner Swapna Scheme, promising an one-time assistance of ₹10,000 to class 12 students of state-run and state-sponsored schools and madrasas for buying tablets or smartphones.

Around 1.6 million students were supposed to receive the grant last year.

Police officials said bank account details of a beneficiary are uploaded on a designated government portal by the staff of the respective school. A limited number of officials of district school departments and the state education department have access to this database. All users have to use passwords.

The probe has revealed that ISFC codes of bank branches and account numbers of the intended beneficiaries were changed to divert the funds to banks in various parts of Bengal. In some cases, the money went to banks in Bihar, Jharkhand and even Punjab.

“The funds have not reached the accounts of 1,911 students till now,” Supratim Sarkar, additional director general of police, south Bengal, said on November 15 last year. More complaints were registered after that.