Burdwan: People here on Tuesday caught a man who was selling school bags that had been distributed among students from Class V to Class VIII free of cost by the school education department.

The bag seller had fled by the time police arrived to pick him up.

The school bags with the logo of Biswa Bangla and bearing the stamp of the school education department were recovered from the man.

The residents immediately informed the local Trinamul councillor, Selim Khan, about the matter. The police have seized the bags.

"I rushed to the spot after getting the information that one person was selling school bags given by the government for free distribution among students. I had immediately informed the police and the district inspector of schools but the person somehow fled. I have handed over the school bags to the police. It is surprising how the person got the school bags that were sent to schools by the government," said the Trinamul councillor of ward 3 in Burdwan town.

The district inspector of schools (secondary) in East Burdwan, Khagendra Nath Roy, has ordered a probe.

"Sub-inspectors (SI) of schools of different circles are the custodians of the school bags given by the state government for distribution among students. They sent requirement of school bags in their circles to the school education department. Today (Tuesday), I received information from the local councillor that one person was found selling government school bags and have immediately ordered a probe," said Roy.

East Burdwan district magistrate Anurag Srivastava also said he had asked the department concerned to carry out a detailed inquiry.

The state government has begun distributing free school bags to the upper primary students across the state from the current financial year. The government already supplies free school dress and shoes to primary students. In East Burdwan, the district school authorities have begun distributing the school bags among the students of 750 schools after the panchayat polls were over.

The person identified as Kailash Das was selling the blue school bags with a piece of cloth bearing the logo of a private school bag manufacturer covering the Biswa Bangla logo at Rs 70 per piece at Lakhsmipur in Burdwan town.

Some local residents became suspicious as the bag resembled the one that is being supplied by the government to the schools.

"I asked the bag seller from where he got the bags and he told me that a hawker selling tea in local trains had given him the bags to sell. He promised me Rs 150 as daily wage," said Kabita Singha, whose son, a student of class V, recently received one such bag from his school.

She tore off the piece of cloth and found the Biswa Bangla logo under it. Some other residents also gathered at the spot hearing the commotion and they called the local councillor.

Some teachers in Burdwan town said they were surprised over the incident.