The CBI on Monday arrested Jiban Krishna Saha, the Trinamul MLA from the Burwan Assembly constituency in Murshidabad, for his alleged involvement in irregularities in recruitments in government-aided schools.
Saha is the third sitting Trinamul MLA to be arrested in the job scam case, after former education minister Partha Chatterjee and Manik Bhattacharya, the MLA from Palashipara in Nadia and former president of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education.
Saha was picked up from his home, where a CBI team has been camping for the past two days trying to collect evidence, including two mobile phones of the MLA that were allegedly thrown into a pond after sleuths had arrived.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, while reacting to Saha's arrest without mentioning his name, said it was part of the BJP’s “game plan”.
“It is a game plan... to prevent the return of as many MLAs as possible to the Assembly... so that they can reduce our numbers,” Mamata said, addressing a news conference at Nabanna on Monday.
The CBI said MLA Saha acted as a conduit in collecting money from candidates who wanted school jobs.
“The accused acted as a conduit in collecting money from candidates by promising them jobs as teachers for classes IX and X in government-aided schools. The candidates had written the selection test in 2016,” a CBI official said.
“During the search at Saha’s house, several incriminating materials, including documents containing the lists of candidates and amounts allegedly paid by each, were recovered.”
Officers said the MLA allegedly collected Rs 6 lakh to Rs 15 lakh from each candidate. They said he had handled the applications of nearly 3,000 job seekers.
At the CBI special court where Saha was produced on Monday, lawyers representing the central investigating agency said the MLA was involved in tampering with OMR sheets of candidates and was instrumental in the recruitment of several of those who had not cleared the selection test.
Lawyers appearing for Saha contested the CBI's plea for custody and said the MLA had been framed.
The court remanded Saha in CBI custody till April 21.
Sunshade collapse
The sunshade over a window in the second floor of a three-storey building on Maniktala Main Road in north Kolkata collapsed around 5.30pm on Sunday, police said.
The concrete chunk measured around 6ftx1.5ft.
No one was injured in the incident.
Biker injured
Arpan Chakraborty, 26, a resident of Jadavpur, sustained injuries in his left leg when a private car hit the two-wheeler he was riding near the Parama island on EM Bypass on Monday morning.
Chakraborty was first taken to Ruby General Hospital and later he was admittedto Ekbalpore Nursing Home, police said.
Cops have arrested the driver of the private vehicle.
Two injured
Sofikul Amin, 35 and Rafikul Mondal, 24, were injured when the goods vehicle in which they were travelling lost control and turned on its side on Basanti Highway on Monday.
Amin, a resident of Basirhat, and Mondal, a resident of Baduria, suffered injuries. They were admitted to the trauma care centre of SSKM Hospital.
