Kolkata: Multiple police units have now identified the "possible mastermind" of the tab fraud, where more than Rs 1.9 crore of govt money meant for students was siphoned off.
Top sources at Bhawani Bhawan and Lalbazar said they believed Babar, a resident of Chopra in North Dinajpur, may have recruited others. Investigators have frozen 797 bank accounts so far.
The probe into fund misappropriation under Taruner Swapna Scheme has also uncovered evidence to suggest that this criminal network also diverted money from central govt programmes, including student scholarships and maternity benefit schemes.
According to police sources, Babar was arrested in Chopra in 2018 by Kerala police. He had allegedly targeted several social welfare schemes run by Kerala govt along with the central National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme, which awarded scholarships worth Rs 12,000 per annum to meritorious students from economically weaker sections.
The total arrests in the tab fraud now stand at 26, including two arrests made by Howrah Police and Jhargram Police on Wednesday. While Zulfikar Ali was picked up from Islampur, Umar Farukh was held in Chopra. A total of 140 complaints have been filed in the state.
Kerala police had also arrested Babul Hussain, a data entry operator from Chopra, for allegedly siphoning off around Rs 5 crore by hacking a National Informatics Centre website and tampering with the beneficiary list for post-matric central scholarships for minorities. "We need to ascertain whether Babar and Babul Hussain are the same person," said a police source.
Sources said Babar had also been linked to Aadhaar-related scams that rocked Bengal last year. Then too, Chopra had been identified as the epicentre.