Kolkata: High drama unfolded during a raid by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the residence of Trinamool Congress MLA Jiban Krishna Saha on Monday morning, with the politician attempting to flee by scaling a boundary wall before being chased down and arrested.
Visuals have emerged of the drenched MLA being led back to his house by Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel through what seems to be a garbage dump. Saha also attempted to destroy evidence by throwing his mobile phones into a drain. Both the phones have been retrieved by the ED.
The agency carried out the raid on Saha’s house in the Murshidabad district as part of the ongoing probe into the school teacher recruitment scam in West Bengal. Former education minister Partha Chatterjee is in judicial custody in this matter.
The MLA from the Burwan Assembly segment has been arrested for non-cooperation with the agency in a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the ED said. Monday’s raids also covered some of Saha’s relatives and associates.
The MLA was arrested by the CBI in 2023 for his alleged links to the “scam” and later released.
The ED’s case stems from an FIR registered by the CBI, which was directed by the Calcutta High Court to carry out investigations into alleged irregularities in the hiring of primary teachers as well as assistant teachers for Classes 9 to 12 and Group ‘C’ and ‘D’ staff.
Saha’s wife had earlier been interrogated in this matter. Four charge sheets have been filed by the ED in this case till now.