CBI arrests Trinamool MLA in teachers' scam case

Kolkata: After a marathon 65-hour raid and search operations, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday arrested Trinamool Congress MLA Jiban Krishna Saha in connection with the multi-crore teachers' recruitment scam in West Bengal.

CBI sleuths are bringing the Burwan MLA to Kolkata, where he will be presented at a special court later in the day after his medical tests.

Saha is the third Trinamool Congress legislator to be arrested in connection to the recruitment scam but the first by the CBI.

In July last year, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is conducting a parallel probe in the case, arrested former state education minister Partha Chatterjee.

Also in 2022, the ED sleuths arrested former president of West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) Manik Bhattacharya who is the Trinamool Congress legislator from Palashipara assembly constituency in Nadia district.

CBI sources said that through the raid and search operations at Saha's residence, the central probe agency has recovered documents, both paper and digital, about his involvement with recruitment of at 3,200 candidates as teaching and non- teaching staff in state-run schools in West Bengal.

While the raids were underway, Saha also threw away two of his mobile phones in a pond adjacent to his residence. Although the CBI sleuths were able to track one phone, the other remains missing.

During the course of its investigation and through questioning of arrested and expelled youth Trinamool Congress leader Kuntal Ghosh, the central agency sleuths came across a local agent named Kaushik Ghosh.

Sources said that Kaushik Ghosh mainly acted as an agent in Murshidabad district and his task was mainly to arrange for prospective candidates willing to pay hefty amounts of money for getting appointments in state-run schools.

From Kaushik Ghosh, the CBI sleuths came to know of the involvement of Saha in the scam.