Teachers’ scam: Trinamool MLA’s CBI custody extended till April 25

KOLKATA: A special CBI court on Friday extended the agency custody of Trinamool Congress MLA Jiban Krishna Saha, who has been arrested in connection with the multi-crore scam in the recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff in the state-run schools in West Bengal, till April 25.

The direction came after the CBI counsel informed the court that the central agency has recovered several crucial documents pertaining to the scam from the residence of Saha. The counsel also described Saha as a middleman, who collected funds and then passed on the same to the masterminds of the scam.

The CBI counsel then informed the court about Saha throwing his two cellphones in a pond adjacent to his residence during the course of raid.

"We need to procure more documents for which we need more time to interrogate him. Hence, we are appealing for extension of his custody," the CBI counsel said.

The judge then asked Saha why he threw his mobile phones in the pond, to which the Trinamool legislator failed to give any satisfactory answer.

Saha's counsel argued that since his client is a political personality, he had several enemies and some of them might have framed him.

"Someone from outside might have planted documents at his residence. It seems that someone tried to frame my client just before the panchayat polls," Saha's counsel argued.

After hearing both sides, the court extended Saha's judicial custody till April 25.