Hacker steals Rs 5 cr central study aid

KOUSIK SEN, TT, 27 Dec 2018, Raiganj: A data-entry operator in North Dinajpur has been arrested for allegedly siphoning off around Rs 5 crore by hacking into a website of the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and tampering with the list of students eligible for post-matric central scholarships offered to minorities.

Babul Hussain, 28, was picked up on Tuesday by a team that included policemen from Kerala, where the fraud came to light after some genuine beneficiaries complained that money had stopped flowing into their bank accounts.

Babul works as a contractual data entry operator in a high school in Courtgach of Chopra, the North Dinajpur village where he stays with his family.

Police sources said Babul, the son of a farmer, contacted youths, mostly college students, from the minority community who are not eligible for the scholarship.

As per the guidelines, students in Classes XI and XII are entitled for a scholarship of maximum Rs 10,000 per annum if the annual income of their family is up to Rs 2 lakh.

"He used to contact with minority students whose families earn more than the stipulated limit. He would then put an offer that he will put their names in the list so that they get the scholarship but they will have to pay him in return. Once the deal is finalised, he would hack into the website and include their names into the list. The investigation done so far suggests that he has done such alterations in the list from October last year to November this year," said a source.

M.S. Jaya, the director of education of Kerala, noticed this anomaly and filed a complaint at the Cyber Crime Police Station of the state.

Investigations started and it was revealed that the lists of beneficiaries have been altered in at least 10 educational institutions of the state. "In some cases, he had even deleted names of genuine beneficiaries and has put names of others, who are not eligible for the scholarship," the source added.

In course of the probe, the Kerala police could locate the IP (Internet Protocol) of Babul, who had been working at home. They could zero in at North Dinajpur and a police team, led by Anish Karim, a sub-inspector of police, arrived here six days back.

"They informed us about the case and we started searching for the youth. He was finally located on Tuesday," said Sumit Kumar, SP, North Dinajpur.

The police team from Kerala has informed their counterparts here that by altering the lists, Babul has helped in siphoning at least Rs 5 crore.

"So far, there is no information that he had been to Kerala even once but had been doing it sitting thousand miles away in Chopra. We need to interrogate him to know whether he has been operating alone or he is member of a racket," said a police official.

On Wednesday, a court in Islampur allowed Kerala police to take Babul on a seven day remand.