Kolkata, Nov 16 (IANS): Following the order from the West Bengal Director General of Police (DGP) Rajeev Kumar, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed to probe the recent cases of cyber-fraud in connection with the transfer of dole amount by the state government to higher secondary students in the state for purchasing tabs.

During the last few days, several cases were reported where the money transferred from the state government exchequer for that purpose was transferred to different bank accounts instead of those of the genuine beneficiaries.

According to the Additional Director General of Police (South Bengal), Supratim Sarkar, the joint investigation monitoring team will comprise top officials from the state police who will be monitoring the progress of the investigation.

He added that as per the data collected from the state Education department, only 1,911 of the 16 lakh beneficiaries were cheated as a result of the cyber fraud.

"This is about just 0.1 per cent. So far 93 cases have been reported in the state. We have 11 individuals, out of whom three have been arrested from East Midnapore in the last 24 hours. Two of them are residents of Malda and one is from Chopra in North Dinajpur district," Sarkar said.

Earlier on Friday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that such cyber-frauds have taken place in other states as well and the West Bengal Police was the first to act on it.

"My administration is rough and tough in such cases," the Chief Minister said.

Banerjee also assured that students who did not receive the money because of the cyber fraud will surely receive it shortly.

"As I have been informed that some of them have already received the money," she said.

Meanwhile, sources from the state police said that an investigation is underway to track the people within the state Education department who have provided the data regarding the beneficiary students to those involved in this cyber-fraud racket.