Kolkata, 25 August (H.S.): In a major development in the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment scam, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday arrested Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Jiban Krishna Saha. The arrest came after more than five hours of raids at his residence in Bartra, Murshidabad district.
According to sources, during the raid Saha attempted to flee by scaling a wall and also tried to destroy evidence by throwing his mobile phone into nearby bushes. However, he was caught by Central security forces stationed outside his house. ED officials later recovered the phone. It was revealed during questioning that Saha had been using two mobile phones, one of which he tried to conceal.
ED officials said the arrested legislator is being taken to Kolkata, where he will be produced before the Bankshall Court and the agency will seek his custody.
Notably, Saha had earlier been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2023 in connection with the same recruitment scam. At that time too, he had thrown his mobile phones into a pond, which were later recovered. After spending around 13 months in jail, he was granted bail by the Supreme Court.
While the CBI is probing corruption in the recruitment process, the ED is investigating the money laundering and financial aspects of the scam. On Monday, multiple ED teams conducted simultaneous raids across the state, including in Kolkata, Murshidabad, and Birbhum districts.
Raids were also carried out at the residence of Saha’s in-laws in Raghunathganj, at the house of his wife, Togor Saha, and at the residence of his aunt, Maya Saha, a councillor of the Saithia Municipality in Birbhum.
In addition, ED searched the house of Rajesh Ghosh, a bank employee from Mahish village in Murshidabad. The action was based on fresh leads obtained from recent raids in Kolkata, where investigators uncovered links to alleged middleman Prasanna Roy, suspected to have played a crucial role in the SSC recruitment scam.
Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh
