West Bengal Tablet Scheme Accused of Fraud: SITs and FIRs Filed in 'Taruner Swapno' Scam
One of the biggest controversies has taken shape in West Bengal over a project called Taruner Swapno, which claims to bridge the digital divide with financial assistance for buying smartphones and tablets for every student. A sitting police commissioner at Kolkata will lead an SIT to probe complaints of fraud and diversion of money in several districts.
Towards assisting one tranche of ₹10,000 catering to tablets or smart phones for higher secondary students, the West Bengal government has instituted a Taruner Swapno scheme. It is now coming to light that moneys meant for a student's account are getting illegally transferred to some other bank accounts. The Kolkata Police on Thursday constituted an SIT to probe the matter after various schools in Kolkata, South 24 Parganas and other districts, like Malda, reported cases of money siphoning.
The police lodged five FIRs and froze 181 bank accounts related to the scam in Malda district. Diverted funds allegations have surfaced in Murshidabad, Paschim Bardhaman, and Uttar Dinajpur districts, leaving hundreds of accounts seized so far. More than a dozen people have been arrested so far in connection with the tablet scheme fraud.
Senior officials of the West Bengal government demanded a detailed investigation into the fraud that seems to be carried out by cyber cafes targeting the Taruner Swapno portal. During investigation, it has been found out that the fraudsters have transferred funds to accounts outside the state, which brought under question how cybercrimes can eat into direct benefit schemes like Taruner Swapno.
Education minister of West Bengal, Bratya Basu, said that all culprits behind the scam must be caught. "It is another leakage case which happened earlier also in state board examinations. But this has been widely condemned and also such cases were there earlier also in West Bengal," he said. However, Suvendu Adhikari, for instance, attacked the state government. "It has been only just another instance of fraud by ruling party supporters," he said. Adhikari linked the tablet fraud to other allegations of irregularities related to school recruitment and PDS scams, both of which have also drawn serious scrutiny in the state.
The state government has set aside ₹900 crore to run the Taruner Swapno scheme in the 2024-25 fiscal, speaking of transparency and accountability in public fund spending. Investigations continue into the fraud by the authorities.
