CBI arrests TMC MLA Saha in Bengal teachers' recruitment scam

NEW DELHI: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday arrested Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Jiban Krishna Saha in the West Bengal teachers' recruitment scam case, sources in the agency confirmed.

Saha is an MLA from the Burwan Constituency of West Bengal. He was arrested from his residence in Burwan in Murshidabad district.

On Sunday evening in the course of the CBI raid a mobile phone of the TMC MLA was fished out from a pond next to the MLA's house. the agency retrieved the phone by after pumping out all water from the pond.

On April 14, CBI conducted searches at six locations including at the premises of Saha in an ongoing investigation of the alleged West Bengal teachers' recruitment scam.

The CBI teams conducted searches at the premises of Saha in Birbhum, Murshidabad and Kolkata.

The case was registered on the orders of the High Court of Calcutta. It was alleged that the accused acted as a conduit in collecting money from the candidates by promising them jobs in the education department as teachers in the recruitment process of the first West Bengal State Level Selection Test (SLST) 2016 for classes 9 and 10.

During searches, several incriminating materials including primary and upper teachers' recruitment and documents containing the list of the candidates and amounts mentioned against them were recovered.

He was arrested after detailed questioning by CBI officials.

Saha is now the third TMC MLA after Partha Chatterjee and Manik Bhattacharya to be arrested by CBI in its probe into the matter.